If You Want Something Done Right
by Rukiie
Summary: ...you have to do it yourself. In their 6th year a mysterious disappearance forces Lily and Severus to work together despite their falling out and puts them on the path meant for a certain bespectacled boy but if you want something done right... LE/SS AU.
1. Summer Days Fall Away

If You Want Something Done: Chapter 1. Summer Days Fall Away

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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The sun was shining brightly, it was a cloudless July afternoon. Snape was doing something he hadn't done since he was a young child; he was hiding behind some bushes watching Lily Evans and her sister except this time they weren't playing on the swings, they were sun bathing.

As there were several other girls around Lily's age, all muggles, doing the same Snape assumed this was a new fashion for girls, to tan their skin. There were about 10 of them all lying in a remote part of the park in brightly coloured teeny bikinis.

Lily stood up and began rubbing something on her skin. She was beautiful. The sun made her red hair sparkle and shine while the green bikini made her somewhat pale skin look creamy and perfect. Snape had never seen Lily with so little clothing on and he would have found it shocking had it not been for all the other girls also lying about the same manner.

She'd lost weight since he last saw her on the final day of school just over a month ago. It wasn't much weight but it made a big difference. Her legs, which were always quite slim were now toned and the curve of her muscles was easily distinguishable when she walked. Snape spent many potions classes taking furtive glances at her exposed legs and he noticed that each year she would hike her school kilt up a little further. There was certainly a difference in Lily. He assumed all these positive changes came from spending less time with him.

Ever since that incident by the lake and their argument that night, the two of them had not spoken. There were a few glances here and there: Lily's bloodshot eyes staring coldly at him from across the dining hall the morning after their fight, meeting each other in the hall of the train on the way home and so forth. Snape was too afraid to go to her house assuming that Lily had shared his idiocy with her family and he therefore would not be welcome. He really missed Mrs. Evans and her cooking. Snape had lost weight too but it didn't make him look any more human. At this thought his stomach grumbled and for a second he was afraid Lily heard it because she glanced in his direction. Snape's breath caught in his lungs. Then Lily turned and handed her sister a bottle and lay back down.

Lily was so beautiful, just when he thought she was perfect and could not get any prettier she turns up like this, toned and with more freckles. Snape fantasized about counting the freckles on Lily's body. But they were only fantasies; he wasn't good enough for her. He would never be able to match Lily's grace and beauty, his clothes were terrible having been owned by his much larger father at one time, also he apparently had no conception of personal grooming according to every student in the school. He had nothing to offer Lily. He had seen several old, ugly, wizards and muggles married to women like Lily, but they were rich. Why he ever thought he had a chance against someone like Potter, he couldn't figure out.

_But Potter can't make her happy! _

No, he used to think that but not anymore. Potter was good looking and rich, he could provide Lily with every and anything she needed.

Snape looked around making sure no one noticed him and began moving deeper into the forest that made up most of the park. It was hard for him to come out during the day because he stuck out too much and his mother kept a close eye on him. She never said anything but Snape knew that she didn't like him going out. He crept through the streets until he reached Spinner's End. There were no parks or bright sunshine in between the houses here. There was no more solid a reminder of Snape's position than the difference in their houses and on top of that Potter's house probably made even Lily's look a cottage.

He went in through the back and popped his head into the kitchen to tell his mother that he was back but she was not in the kitchen. He went upstairs and found her in her room holding a towel and staring at the wall.

"I'm back mum."

"hum"

That was the only answer he got but he knew it was enough. He ran down the hall into his room and shut the door, then magically sealed it so no one could come in without him noticing it. He knew he could do simple spells at home without anyone at the Ministry knowing it was him and not his mother. He plopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Lily looked happy so that should be enough. He wondered if she was in contact with Potter, maybe they were planning on doing something together this summer. Snape remembered that last year Potter sent Lily a letter asking her to go on vacation with him somewhere but she said no because he was a git, but would she say no this year? Maybe she'd say yes and they'd go to Egypt or something, maybe that's why Lily lost weight and was tanning, to look good for Potter in her bikini as they swam in the Mediterranean. The thought pained Snape greatly.

Just as he was imagining Potter giving Lily presents and Lily agreeing to be his girlfriend he heard a strange sound coming from outside his window. He looked up and saw an owl scratching at his window. He opened the window and let the owl in who landed on his desk and held out its foot. There was a letter there. Snape took the letter and saw it was from Avery. Snape opened the letter wondering what Avery could possibly want during the summer.

_Snape, I need the following potions in two weeks time:_

_Blood-Replenishing Potion (8 doses)_

_Essence of Dittany (8 doses)_

_Invigoration Draught (4 doses)_

_Wound-Cleaning Potion (8 doses)_

_I'll pay you whatever the stores normally charge as long as we keep this between us. Send them to me by owl._

_Avery_

While Avery had asked Snape you make him potions before they were obviously meant for pranks: breast engorgement, Freud's Slip potion that turned every sentence into something dirty, or sleeping potion ect... these didn't make any sense. Obviously Avery was going to do something stupid and he wasn't doing it alone. If he was willing to pay Snape why not just buy them from the store? Snape shrugged and started looking through his potions kit to see what he needed to buy, at least this would keep him busy and keep his thoughts away from Lily.

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Snape just finished bottling the last of the potions for Avery and he wondered whether one owl could carry them all. As an apparent answer to his thoughts, 4 owls started pecking at Snape's window. He let them all in and they landed in a straight line with one leg out. One of them had a small package tied to it. Snape took the package and opened it to find 14 galleons and 8 sickles inside. There was also a note:

_Here is the money for the potions, I trust that they are all well made. See you in September._

_Avery_

Snape smirked, Avery trusted him? Guess he knew if Snape did anything funny he could get him back during school or maybe after using his potions for so long Avery knew Snape was capable. Either way it felt good to be trusted. Snape tied the package to the owls and they flew off into the quickly darkening evening sky. Only a few more weeks of summer and then school would start. With nothing to do anymore Snape began to think about Lily again. Did she see Potter over the summer? Did they do anything together? Would he go to school in a few weeks time to discover they were dating? One thing was certain, Snape could no longer spend his train ride to Hogwarts with her and he also couldn't study with her or be her partner in potions. While the prospect of leaving Spinner's End was a happy one the alternative of being at Hogwarts certainly lost some of its appeal without Lily. Maybe after the summer to think it over Lily would be more understanding, maybe she'd even forgive him. It was hopeful and probably stupid thinking but she was obviously still upset the last time they spoke and then school ended and he couldn't bring himself to go to her house and cause any problems in front of her family.

_Maybe she'll come around._

Snape sighed and leaned on the window sill and looked out into the dirt packed square that was supposed to be his backyard and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He was certain he'd seen something moving in the alley just beyond his fenced in "yard". Stupid kids. The urchins in Spinner's End practically lived in the alleyways but they usually knew better than to come so near his house. Perhaps a new prostitute moved into the area and found the alley by his house to be the only empty one. Well he certainly couldn't have that. He grabbed his jacket and tip toed out of the house. As he made his way down he briefly considered taking the company of one of the working women in the area. He was fairly certain his father spent a good deal of his paycheck on booze and these women leaving only so much for him and his mother which was why he neither drank nor tolerated these women but he was starting to feel differently about it now. He always thought that Lily would never condone drinking and she certainly wouldn't be happy with him keeping the company of such women so on top of his revulsion for his father's habits Severus never even considered doing such a thing but things were very different now. He probably had no chance with Lily even if she did forgive him and it wasn't as though he had a family to provide for. Severus did his best to save some money for whatever he and Lily would need in the future but that seemed pointless now. Maybe he should have a drink, if it made him forget about Lily it seemed like a good idea. With the galleons from Avery he certainly could get a few drinks but none of the pubs in the area would take galleons and he didn't feel like making a trip to Gringotts until he had to go down to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Even if he had enough money for a girl which he suspected he did as the ones around here couldn't charge much, they definitely didn't take galleons.

By this point he was almost past his backyard and the alley between the two houses that immediately bordered his yard. He turned into the alley but no one was there. He did notice a set of shoe prints in the mud, not heels but runners and they were small. Some kid was probably standing here staring at his house. All the children here were afraid of him. He knew he would have had a harder time at a normal school, they probably all behaved like Griffs.

Slightly annoyed, Snape turned back into the house and back into his room where he proceeded to kill flies with his wand to pass the time.

_Two more weeks Severus, that's it.__ Just two more weeks._

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It was the day the Hogwarts express was set to leave for another year from King's Cross. Snape was making his way through Diagon Alley, squeezing himself through the hoards of people also last minute shopping. That morning Snape's mother handed him some money and said goodbye, nothing more. While it was short it was better than the beating his father gave him for everything he was going to do wrong this year. As he made his way to the crammed Flourish and Blotts he was often pushed and squished between people making his injuries from his father's farewell smart horribly.

After he bought all his books for the year Snape stopped by the Apothecary to refill his potions supplies and the Junk Shop to see if he could find anything decent in there. Most of the stuff there was in need of repair but there were some forgotten treasures and most of the stuff could be fixed and cleaned up with a little patience and magical know-how. Snape was in desperate need of a new cauldron, he noticed while making Avery's potions that his was not cleaning up as well as it used to and it took a long to time heat up. After leaving the Junk shop with a new cauldron which was of much better quality and having only a small dent in it that Snape easily fixed before he bought it and a few stationary supplies, Snape made his way to the second hand robe shop. He had never bought new robes because he figured he would just grow out of them. Once he was certain he was fully grown he'd buy some nice robes.

Snape needed new robes, he'd grown an inch or two and the knees of these pants had been worn and ripped several times so that even_ reparo_ was becoming less and less effective. He wandered into the store and noticed several other children there, they all seemed to be as badly off as he, there was even a witch holding two babies while trying to fit a dress onto a reluctant toddler. The store clerk took one look at him and said,

"Boys Hogwarts uniforms? To the left."

Severus turned to the left and began walking towards the wall filled with old Hogwarts uniforms. He looked through them and held them up to make sure they were large enough. After a few minutes the clerk witch came by.

"Need any help? I see you're shopping alone. Most boys come in with their mothers, or at least another woman!"

Snape nodded and the witch began to take measurements.

"180, you're a tall one."

Snape grimaced and tried to look encouraging. This witch was new, perhaps the woman who owned the store previously had sold it off or maybe she just hired some extra help.

"Here, this one is perfect, might need some alterations since you're so thin but it's a good price, half off what you'd get it for at Malkin's and I'll throw in the alterations."

This was a good deal, Severus had budgeted out slightly more for robes and with the alterations done by a professional, or the very least a woman, they would turn out better than if he did it himself. He smiled and nodded at the witch who began to mark the clothes according to his size. She was quick and obviously well trained, fitting charms were complicated and getting them right took a lot of practice. Once she was done the witch took the robes up to the counter.

"Do you need anything else? I could leave these here and you could look around some more if you want. Undergarments are on the other wall and those are all new if you were wondering."

Well he had saved some money on his robes and it wasn't as though he had a large wardrobe. The witch seemed nice and reminded him of Lily's mother. Then Snape remembered what Lily said about his underwear last June and thought maybe a new pair wouldn't hurt. He nodded again and made his way to the other end of the store. He grabbed a few pairs of underwear and socks, also reasonably priced and new just as the witch said. On his way to the checkout something caught Snape's eye. It was a green and black argyle sweater, a green that was almost exactly the colour of Lily's eyes. Snape stopped and looked at it, it was small but long, perfect for him and even if he bought it and the socks and underwear he would still have spent less in here than he intended. He grabbed the sweater before he could change his mind and went over the checkout counter where the witch and her brood of children were leaving with two bags full of clothes.

"Did you find everything? Oh nice sweater, the sleeves will be long enough don't worry."

He paid the woman and left the store with his new clothes. He was glad to have saved so much money and was slightly elated; maybe this was why women loved shopping so much. He still had some time before he needed to leave for King's Cross but he would rather be early than late so he started heading down the alley towards the Leaky Cauldron. On his way he passed the entrance to Knockturn Alley and he remembered what Rosier and Wilkins told him about it after they visited it with their fathers. He was almost tempted to go down and have a look but knowing him something would go wrong on his way to King's Cross so it was better to have a cushion of time. No one would care if he missed the train.

Once he left the Leaky Cauldron, Snape quickly made his way to King's Cross. There were about 25 minutes until the train left and not many students had arrived. He kept his trunk shrunken and made his way across the magical barrier to Platform 9 ¾ and saw that the train had arrived and that several students were standing around with their parents and getting luggage on the train. Most of them seemed young, probably eager first years who were afraid of missing the train. He quickly got onto the train and found an empty compartment at the very back. After putting his trunk away he sat down suddenly feeling tired.

_All that shopping must have gotten to me._

As Snape sat down his eyes drooped and he fell asleep. He awoke only when he heard a whistle and the Hogwarts express began to move. He looked out the window and saw the platform moving away from him. He turned around to grab something out of his bag only to be greeted by the sight of Rosier who was reading what looked like a muggle porn magazine, Wilkes who was looking sullen and Avery who was eating an apple.

"Alright there Snape? Thanks for saving us a place, I didn't wanna have to sit with the girls this year, they've been driving me mad these past few weeks."

Avery said between chomps of his apple. Severus was certainly not saving a place for them but better than sitting on his own for the entire ride.

"Thanks for the potions by the way, mighty good."

Snape nodded and stared back out the window. Maybe this year wouldn't be too bad.


	2. There's a First Time for Everything

Chapter 2: There's a First Time for Everything

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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Snape was making his way towards the bathrooms at the other end of the train when he saw the treats trolley coming down the aisle.

_Crap how am I going to get past her?_

Severus was about to turn back when the compartment door next to the treats trolley opened and he saw Potter.

"Do you want anything Lily?"

"No I'm fine thanks."

"Come on, not even a licorice wand? I'm buying."

"I'm not hungry"

So they were sitting together, that wasn't surprising, Snape expected it but he was still hurt. As Potter finished making his purchase he looked up and saw Snape. He gave a smug smirk and Snape sneered back.

"Are you done yet? Move! Two Licorice wands and a cauldron cake please."

Lily moved Potter out of the way and stuck her head out the door to give her money to the trolley witch and Snape got a better look at her than he did during the summer, was she wearing make up?

"Oi, Lily I thought you weren't hungry?"

"I just didn't want you to buy me anything thank you very much."

Snape couldn't help but chuckle and both Potter and Lily looked his way. There was an awkward and tense moment as Lily and Snape's eyes met. Lily suddenly looked sick and froze, holding her change. The trolley witch moved on and squeezed past Snape obviously using some sort of magic.

"How about you be on your way Snivellus, your face is making Lily ill!"

Snape whipped out his wand and so did Potter but Lily just stood there as though she was in shock. The mention of Snape's long standing nickname brought Sirius out of the compartment.

"Alright Snivellus? Whoa, here I was hoping you'd get your act together during the summer but you look even worse mate, perhaps my _scourgify_ wasn't enough?"

Snape just stared back, he was trying to keep alert on what the marauders were doing while attempting to make eye contact with Lily but she was still staring off into space holding her hand up. She was wearing makeup, dark eyeliner and pink gloss. It wasn't much but other than special occasions Snape had never seen Lily wear any makeup at all.

"What did you go deaf over the summer too Snivellus? Seems like a pity, your ugliness was enough of a disability."

"Shut up."

The whisper came from Lily who seemed to have woken up from her trance and was now looking at the ground.

"Go inside, both of you, your making my head hurt."

When neither Potter nor Black made any movement Lily shoved them into the compartment and slammed the door shut without even looking at Snape. Rather than risk another encounter Snape went back to his compartment magically squeezing past the trolley again, it made sense to him that it would be enchanted to do that. Why had it taken him 5 years to figure that out? Probably because he had spent every train ride until last year with Lily, not wandering the halls.

A little shocked and disappointed by what just happened Snape slipped back into his compartment and took his seat next to Avery and across Rosier who had put the porn away and was now shuffling through a pile of cue cards.

Wilkes was still sitting and looking cross. Severus stared at him and when Avery noticed this he said,

"Don't mind him, Ederlina turned him down again. Apparently he isn't creative enough with his gift-giving."

Wilkes gave a "pfft" and grabbed his Advanced Potions Making out of his bag and started reading. Rosier was holding up a cue card and muttering to himself.

"Oi Snape did the summit meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards happen before or after the Great Goblin Rebellion of Hogsmeade?"

"After. Why are you still taking History of Magic?"

"I only passed 5 classes so I gotta take em all and History of Magic was one of them. You're not taking it?"

"No way, Binns is a ghost for fuck's sake, I guess Dumbledore doesn't want to pay an actual teacher. Anything worth knowing about history I've learned by now."

"Damn I was hoping you'd help me, I'm fucked now."

Snape tried to look apologetic but by the look on Rosier's face it didn't come off right.

"What are you taking?"

Avery was looking at him and even Wilkes had come out from behind his Advanced Potions making and was looking at Snape eagerly.

"Well I got Outstandings in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts so I'm defiantly taking those. I got Exceeds Expectations in Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic but I'm only taking Herbology out of that lot."

The other 3 boys groaned.

"Snape why do you have to take all the hardest classes? Well we will have a few stuff together, They'll take students with EE's right? I didn't get a single O."

Wilkes suddenly looked troubled. Avery was counting on his figures then turned to Snape and asked,

"You think they'll let me into Herbology with an Acceptable? If not I've only got 5 classes too: Potions, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. I got a D in Divination, should have known and a Troll in Care of Magical Creatures."

Wilkes laughed,

"A Troll? What happened man?"

"I sort of… killed my magical creature, it died a few hours after my exam according to the letter they sent me. How was I supposed to know feeding raw rice to birds made their stomachs explode, the thing looked hungry!"

Wilkes was still laughing and Snape was watching the whole exchange with amusement. So they got at least 5 OWLs, that wasn't too bad. Potter and Black probably bribed the examiners. Pettigrew definitely didn't get more than one or two, Snape wondered if he even came to school anymore as he didn't see or hear him in the compartment.

"Well I got an Exceeds Expectations in Herbology so it'll just be you and me in there Snape, you better help me with those bubotubers. And here!"

Wilkes threw him his copy of Advanced Potion Making.

"That recipe for Draught of Living Death, it doesn't seem right, my dad says the same. I tried to make some about a week ago and it was practically clear, it should have a strong colour right? I swear Snape do the world a favour and re-write these stupid potions books."

Snape silently took out a pen and began scratching out a few things and replacing them with his modifications. He'd made this potion for practice a few times and he knew how to work with some of the ingredients from other potions. Severus was considering what the guys just said. They were clearly eager for his help with homework but at the same time they were praising him and seemed to consider him very capable although Snape did note that they could just be saying that to flatter him. If he was so talented his potions master Slughorn never noticed, but if he was rich he would have.

Snape finished making the changes and handed the book back to Wilkes who said "thanks" and started studying the changes he made. The rest of the train ride was uneventful and when they got to Hogsmeade station Snape was anxious to get another look at Lily, maybe in all the rush he could get a carriage with her and they could be alone and maybe talk.

No such luck, as soon as he got out of the train he saw Lily and Alice getting in a carriage with Black, Potter and Lupin. Again Pettigrew was nowhere to be seen, maybe he really had given up on school. Snape looked over at the first years who were all being herded into boats. He thought that tradition was stupid but what better way to prepare students for the horrors of Hogwarts than by scaring them with a ride over a lake filled with all sorts of creatures on rickety, wooden boats? One of the first years had bright red hair just like Lily and Snape found himself staring until Mulciber broke him from his daze by whacking him on the arm with his owl cage. The owl gave a frightful screech that made everyone turn and look at him.

"Come now Snape, isn't she a bit young for you?"

Mulciber yelled and winked while looking back. Snape quickly walked into a carriage with the others because people were staring. Mulciber was only a year older but he behaved like a dirty old man. No matter how much the other Slytherins respected him if he ever went near Lily, he'd kill him. Mulciber was known for being particularly twisted sexually. He put his arms around Wanda, a 5th year Slytherin and she screamed and ran about 100 feet before jumping into a carriage, he had that sort of reputation with women.

After settling into his seat in the Great Hall, Snape took a look at the first years; they looked tiny. This year there were 32 new students. Wilkes was a prefect so he stood by the end of the table waiting for the students who would be placed in Slytherin. The 5th student called was the first to be put in Slytherin and by his confidence and the cheers from further down the table he was probably well known or the cousin or sibling of someone.

"Yaxley's cousin, Black reckons he'll make a good beater someday, strong for his age."

Snape looked at him, he supposed for a first year he was quite large with wide shoulders and he certainly stood taller than most of the other students. After all was said and done 7 students ended up in Slytherin, 8 in Ravenclaw, 9 in Hufflepuff and 8 in Gryffindor. The new residents, 4 boys and 3 girls, all looked scared as no one at the table said anything, all the other houses were talking amicably and started eating. Wilkes looked at the 7 students and simply asked,

"Blood status?"

Snape remembered this from his own sorting; luckily there had been another half-blood in his year.

"Pure."

"Pure."

"Pure."

"Three-Quarters"

Instead of motioning to the next student Wilkes continued to stare at the girl.

"Dad's Half, but he's rich."

Wilkes found this acceptable and moved on but one student was looking increasingly nervous. After two more answers of pure the last student, also a girl was visibly shaking as she stated,

"Half. My mum's muggle-born."

Wilkes tisk-ed and walked over to her. She looked extremely frightened as Wilkes stopped in front of her and bent down.

"Where you hoping to be in Slytherin?"

"Yes, daddy says it's the only honourable house."

This answer made Mulciber smile, he walked over and put his arm around her, squeezing her close.

"Well your father sounds like a smart man, except the part where he plowed and impregnated some filthy mudblood whore. But don't worry too much, you could always marry Snape and have ugly dirt-veined babies."

Everyone at the table roared with laughter and then started eating. Mulciber let go of the girl who looked relived then he walked over to the end of the table and sat next to Avery who was sitting next to Snape.

"No hard feelings mate, just a joke. You can do better anyways."

Snape scowled back and started to eat. As he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice Severus felt like someone was watching him. He looked up and saw Lily looking at him only to look away as their eyes met. Remembering what happened on the train Snape looked over at the table. Potter was sitting next to Lily and clearly just told some joke as Black and Lupin were laughing and Lily rolled her eyes. On the opposite side of the table Snape noticed a short wide boy wobbling with laughter. It could be no one other than Pettigrew, apparently he did come to school so he must have passed at least one class, or maybe he was repeating the whole 5th year.

About 15 minutes into dinner Dumbledore stood up and asked for quiet, usually he made all his announcements before dinner and before he had welcomed the students and had given all the routine information about rules.

"This year Hogwarts will be holding a little Halloween Hunt. Throughout the castle and on the grounds there will be several different objects hidden which will be found using clues. Now nothing will be in any restricted areas such as the Forbidden Forest or the teacher's offices. If a room is locked than it is out-of-bounds and there is nothing to find. Students may work in groups of up to 4 people or alone. The first student or group which finds all the pieces of the scavenger hunt will win a fantastic prize! What is this prize, you may ask? Well here is Professor Slughorn to explain all about that."

There was some scattered applause as Slughorn took the podium; most people were too excited as to the nature of the prize.

"Ahem, well the winner, or winners will get a 9 day trip to Paris, all expenses paid, this winter holiday. They will get to attend a few lectures on detection spells and puzzle solving which will both be extremely important for this scavenger hunt. They will also get to meet the Minister for Magic of both our great country and France and meet some other very special people while in France. It is certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity."

With that Slughorn relinquished the podium and the hall exploded into chattering and oohs and ahs. Then Dumbledore took the podium again and called for quiet.

"Now that I'm sure you are very excited but let me put forth a few rules. First groups may not be larger than 4, to ensure teams do not split the work a charm will be placed on each team which will make them incapable of communicating with anyone else who is also participating in the hunt. This charm is easily lifted in case of emergencies but if a student lifts the charm without good reason they will be disqualified. The hunt will begin at sunset and end at sunrise. If no team has completed the list of objects by sunrise, the team with the most items will win and in case of a tie the team that gathered the most items first will win. That being said this is not a race, you will quickly learn that patience, skill and knowledge are much more important. The hunt will have a theme. More information will be given on the hunt in the coming weeks. Registration of teams will not take place until October 1st so you all have some time to figure it out. Thank you very much and please continue to enjoy your dinner."

Despite what Dumbledore said, no one was eating. Everyone was busy figuring out their teams and making predictions about the theme and the sorts of skills they would have to know. The first and second years at the end of the table thought the older students would have an upper hand because they knew more about the layout of Hogwarts and more spells. Mulciber leaned over to Snape and asked,

"So who are you going to be with?"

Snape looked around and understood that to mean that Avery, Mulciber, Wilkins and Rosier would be making a team.

"I'll probably go it alone, like I'd want you sodders ruining a perfectly good vacation."

Snape turned back to his food and sighed. If this had been last year he would have wanted to go for it with Lily, a vacation with her in France would be perfect but now that was beyond a dream. It upset him some that the guys would rather go with Mulciber than him, after all he could come in handy. As though he read his mind, Avery leaned over and said,

"Sorry mate, I'd rather it be you but you know how Mulciber is, no one in his year can stand him."

Snape gave a half smile and started to eat again, spraying some lemon on a particularly dry piece of salmon. He wasn't sure if Avery was actually sorry or if he was just saying it but it was a nice gesture either way. It seemed his fellow Slytherins had more respect for him than they did last year.

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Once the feast was over everyone stood up. The noise of students talking, chairs scraping and prefects herding first years made Snape's head hurt. He got up and stretched and rolled his neck. The others went ahead of him and Snape was one of the last Slytherins to start walking towards the Entrance Hall. As he reached the door to the Entrance Hall Snape noticed that one of the stragglers was Lily who was just ahead of him. She turned back and looked at him but quickly turned back around and ran towards the staircase. As she ran she dropped a piece of parchment. Snape picked it up and looked on both sides, it was blank. Severus figured that she was carrying some spare parchment and it fell as she ran away.

Snape got to the dungeon and spoke _"una inceptum_" at a blank stretch of wall which was the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He got to his room where Avery and Rosier were talking in bed. Snape went to his bed at the very back of the room and opened his trunk. He changed into his pajamas and got into bed, closing and magically sealing the bed hangings.

"_Lumos._"

Snape looked at the blank piece of parchment Lily dropped. He wished it had some of Lily's handwriting on it at least but knowing it was hers was enough, he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Snape had few things of Lily's, a couple photographs, some of her hair from long ago, things related to stuff they'd done together. Snape intended to put this with all his other things in a box he kept well hidden and magically sealed. Suddenly Snape had a thought. Maybe Lily was trying to communicate with him. He held the piece of parchment in front of him and tried all the revealing spells he could think of, but nothing. It was stupid to think Lily would want to say anything to him, besides she could have just said it, they were practically alone. Snape put the parchment under his pillow and began to drift to sleep, images of glowing red hair already forming,

"_Nox_."


	3. And the Puzzle Thickens

Chapter 3: And the Puzzle Thickens…

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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The next morning all anyone could talk about was the Halloween Hunt. This seemed to annoy McGonagall as she handed out schedules and advised certain students. Even from across the room Snape could see her purse her lips as she got to Pettigrew. So Snape was right in believing that Pettigrew barley passed anything. Severus looked down as his own schedule, haphazardly handed to him by Slughorn before he waddled off to blow smoke up the more important students' asses. His schedule was pretty good. He had a midday break everyday and he had Fridays off completely as the NEWT classes taking place on Friday were Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, neither of which he was taking. He also had double Transfiguration and then double Charms today but that meant getting to see Lily the whole day. As the NEWTS students started leaving early for their classes along with first years who were worried about getting lost, Snape stalled a bit to make sure he was behind Lily.

"Today's awful for me, because of the one hour daytime Astronomy lesson I don't get a break!"

"Don't worry Alice, I don't get one either on Thursdays because I have double Defense Against the Dark Arts, then double History of Magic then Ancient Runes."

"Yeah but you have Friday off and you can sleep in Wednesday!"

"Well you didn't take Arithmancy either Alice so we can sleep in together."

Lily smiled at Alice and just then Frank Longbottom strolled over to her and she started complaining to him about her schedule and looked positively distraught when she discovered she had so few breaks in common with him. Not a moment later Potter walked over and tried to put his arm around Lily's waist like Longbottom did to Alice, but she pushed him away.

"So how does your schedule look Evans?"

"Not bad except Thursdays, I have classes all day."

"Aw Lily why did you take Ancient Runes that stuff is boring, you should have taken Care of Magical Creatures with me."

"I'm allergic to most of those things and animals don't like me, no way am I going through another year of torture."

Severus remembered Care of Magical Creatures, Lily was always getting bitten or kicked by something. She even said once she wouldn't have survived that class without him, I guess she'd forgotten all those moments they had together.

After Alice separated herself from Frank and she and Lily moved ahead leaving Potter behind with Lupin and Sirius.

"Hey, did any of you take Ancient Runes?"

Both Sirius and Lupin nodded no.

"Oh man, Lily is going to be alone with the freak Snivellus."

"Don't worry so much mate, Fateen has that class. Fateen, the busty Ravenclaw. She and Lily are friends, oh and that reminds me…"

Sirius wiggled his eyebrows and caught up to Lily probably to ask Lily to set him up with Fateen but it seemed like Lily wasn't interested in helping because she wacked Sirius with her Transfiguration book and strode away.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, Snape couldn't even get near her in Transfiguration or Charms, not only because Lupin, Sirius and Potter were there but because both professors assigned a great deal of homework and the classes were complex. Snape had to pay close attention to what McGonagall was saying to know what to do. It was no joke when she said NEWT level was 10 times harder. Undeterred Severus went to the library and started on his Transfiguration essay that night so that he could spend Ancient Runes and the break he had until Herbology talking to Lily, maybe they would even walk down to Herbology together… if she took Herbology that is.

iiiiiiiiiii

Severus had never been nervous for a class before but suddenly here he was waiting in front of his Ancient Runes class practically having heart palpitations. 5 minutes before class, Lily walked up to the door next to Fateen and a Hufflepuff girl whose name he did not know. It was awkward for Snape but he pretended not to notice her, he just leaned against the wall and looked down like he usually did. From that angle Snape could see that Lily was standing perfectly still, which usually meant she was nervous. When Professor Babbling opened the doors everyone rushed in without speaking. After everyone took their seats Professor Babbling addressed the class,

"I'm sure you've all heard about the Halloween Hunt and while I can't say much I can tell you that I was heavily involved in the planning of this event. The clues are tricky and acquiring the object once found is also difficult. I hope that each one of you will use your knowledge from this class to win the hunt. I'd also like to give you a piece of advice, choose your teams wisely! Make sure there is someone in the group who is versed in each subject taught at Hogwarts, for example if no one knows anything about Astronomy in the group you could be in trouble. Alright now open your text to…"

Snape wasn't particularly looking forward to running around the castle looking for junk. There was nothing about participation being mandatory so Severus could just sleep. The task was set between sunset and sunrise. Snape stopped thinking about it and tried to focus on the exceptions certain combinations of runes made. He hated NEWTS already and it was only the second day.

"Now I've marked your essays that were prepared over the summer. I have to say I'm quite pleased with your grasp of simple combinations, of course this assignment was a very important bridge to the work we are doing today so if anyone feels like they are already falling behind you can come to me for extra help."

Professor Babbling was walking around the class handing back the essays. When Lily got hers she made no motion of disappointment or of joy, usually an A meant happiness, a B meant slight disappointment and anything less total disaster. It could be a B but there was no reaction, it was almost as if she didn't check her mark at all. Severus received an A and a nod from Babbling.

"I'd also like to remind you all, who haven't read it on the notice boards, that I am the councilor for 6th years this year. If you have any problems or concerns you wish to discuss with me you may. However, if your concerns are academic seeing your teachers or your head of house is a better choice. Either way, I'm all open ears or… something of the sort."

With that Babbling dismissed the class and Snape considered staying behind and asking her if it was worth it to participate in the Halloween Hunt. Severus was waiting for everyone to leave but Lily hadn't moved, she wasn't even finished packing her things. She approached Professor Babbling and Snape moved a bit closer so that he could hear.

"Professor this Halloween Hunt isn't mandatory is it? It seems rather childish and a waste of time."

"Well no Lily it isn't mandatory but it's good for school spirit and the headmaster is encouraging inter-house teams. Your skills in Ancient Runes and many of your other classes would make you a top contender. Not to mention participating would make you a good example as a prefect and might earn you some points when the teachers are considering Head Girl nominations"

Snape decided to give his insights on the hunt,

"Yes but why is it between sunset and sunrise, beyond keeping everyone out at night, it isn't very accurate. Is that when the sun starts setting or when it's totally dark? Furthermore the younger students are at a huge disadvantage and the first and second years are probably going to get into more trouble than anything else."

"Well I'm upset to hear my two best students are so against this. It is supposed to be fun and educational, a good way of training your skills and seeing how far you need to go before your NEWTS testing next year. I had hoped that you two would be on a team together and it isn't just me, you two along with James Potter and Sirius Black are some of the best students in many classes and the four of you would have a great shot, I do hope you reconsider, now excuse me."

Professor Babbling left the class looking rather upset. Lily looked at Severus and said,

"I guess we offended her, since she worked so hard on it."

"Yeah but could you imagine you, me, Potter and Black working together?"

"I'd rather hang myself."

Severus thought that was a bit extreme. He couldn't believe that Lily was still this angry.

"Yeah well it wouldn't exactly be a pleasant experience for me either."

Snape rushed out of the room and down the stairs towards Herbology. All his ideas about Lily flew out of his head, it was clear she would never forgive him.

iiiiiiiiiii

The rest of the school week passed much like Herbology did on Tuesday, with Snape ignoring Lily and trying to forget he ever knew her. Snape moved his bed hanging slightly to check the time, nearly 2 am and he couldn't get to sleep. He got up and started walking around the dungeons, his wand only dimly lit. Severus was near the kitchens when he heard voices. His first thought was that Filtch was patrolling but then he noticed the voices were high so he thought they were house elves until he got close enough to hear the conversation.

"I don't know what you're complaining about Lily, James is amazing: he's hot, rich, funny and he is absolutely in love with you! I'd date him in a second if I didn't have my Frankie."

"I don't think you get it Alice, I don't like him. I can't even tolerate him, every time I hear his voice or see his smug-ass smile I feel like puking on him. Ugh… I've lost my appetite. "

"You're mad, blazing mad. Anyways, I'm going to bed, I shouldn't have eaten so much."

Alice put her plate down and almost immediately a house elf picked it up. Alice just left sight when a ghost floated through a wall and hovered near Lily who said somewhat weakly with her head in her hands,

"Hello Sir Nicholas."

"Hello, Lily, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

"Come now Nick, I know you were listening to everything I said, when I tell first years that the walls have ears, I mean you."

"Well when you never sleep and you're dead there isn't much to do but watch… and listen to the living. You know I'd always hoped you and Mr. Potter would get together, I think you'd make a mighty good match and I would know I've been fixing up couples for almost 400 years."

"That's just the problem I feel like everyone is crazy. Can't they see James is just a brainless jerk who does what he wants when it please him just because he can! It drives me crazy, what I'd give for a week's peace from his idiocy. I've never wanted to hurt anyone so much in my life! You know what, I just might kill him, string him up from the astronomy tower or maybe nearly behead him that way you could have a friend, would you like that? Having a nearly headless friend?"

"Well I'm not sure if he would enjoy my company but either way… that is… the point is killing is wrong. Lily what could he possibly have done to make you so angry?"

Lily stopped and gave a long sigh before continuing,

"What didn't he do? It seems from the moment I stepped foot on the Hogwarts Express James has done everything in his power to torment me, or woo me as he calls it. He even…"

Unaware to Snape, Filtch had made his rounds all the way to the kitchen and stealthily walked behind him grabbing him with a loud,

"A HA!"

All three people present gasped at the loud noise and turned to see Filtch holding Snape by his pajamas.

"Caught you now, out of bed after curfew, that'll be detention and maybe some lashes."

"Don't be silly Mr. Filtch, prefects are allowed out of bed."

"Yeah, but he ain't no prefect."

"Well I am and I asked Severus to accompany me to talk to the house elves."

Filtch muttered something about trouble makers and skittered away. Lily turned around to say something to Sir Nicholas only to find him gone.

"Great help he is… pfft."

There were a few moments of silence after this that stretched incredibly.

"So how was your first week Severus?"

"Fine."

Snape noticed Lily was trying to say something but was biting her lip, he decided it was best to leave before she said something else insulting. On his way back to the common room Snape considered his options. As much as he thought about his future in the past, Lily was always a part of it but now he had to figure something else out. He couldn't rely on his family, he hardly had friends and career prospects were poor with Slughorn pushing his favorites into any available position. It became more and more difficult to walk as he thought about all this. Once he made it to the common room and then up to his dormitory Snape reached into his trunk and grabbed the strongest sleeping potion he had and passed out. He was afraid to think anymore tonight.

iiiiiiiiiii

It was Friday afternoon and Snape had just awoken from his potion induced sleep. Having taken the potion at 3 am the effects lasted until noon and even as he sat down in the Great Hall for lunch Snape felt groggy. Many students had Friday off as Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures were not popular classes, certainly there wasn't a single Slytherin taking Muggle Studies. After finishing his lunch Snape decided to take a walk around the grounds to clear his head. A few steps outside the Entrance Hall Snape had the misfortune of meeting Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew.

"Alright Snivellus?"

Snape was in no mood or state to have a duel. He decided it was best to ignore them and keep walking.

"Oi, I'm talking to you!"

Potter grabbed Snape's arm and turned him around so that they were face to face. Potter raised his wand to Snape's face.

"What did you do to her last night? The _Imperius?_

"What the fuck are you talking about Potter?"

Snape struggled to get out of Potter's grasp but he was still slightly asleep. He remembered seeing Lily last night and, a ghost was there…

"We know you were with Lily last night by the kitchens, and now she's suddenly acting crazy. So what did you do to her?"

Usually in these exchanges Pettigrew stayed quiet and watched as his mates tortured Snape.

"I did nothing to her and how did you know we were together?"

The Marauders gave each other looks before Potter said,

"We heard it from Filtch. Anyways that's not the point, we are going to find out what you did and get your greasy ass expelled!"

Potter let go of Snape's shirt and walked away. The others followed him, with Black smashing into Snape for good measure. Snape just ignored them and walked over to a tree and sat under it. He knew he should be angry about what just happened and try to make sense of Potter's nonsense but he was tired. Thinking comes later. Snape fell asleep under the tree quickly and had dreams about floating around the castle holding Potter's head.

iiiiiiiiiii

When Snape awoke it was fairly dark. It took him a few moments to realize where he was. After checking to make sure no one played any weird pranks on him while he was asleep Snape walked into the Great Hall where a few students were already eating dinner. He saw Avery at the Slytherin table and sat next to him.

"Hey Snape, where've you been all day? Rosier was looking for you like mad, couldn't figure out something about Herbology."

Snape gave a non committal grunt and started eating. After about 20 minutes the Hall was nearly full and Snape decided to leave and get some homework done but just then Dumbledore walked up to the podium and silenced the chatter.

"Good Evening, I hope you are all well fed by now and you'll excuse me interrupting your dinner for a few moments. Each week on Friday evenings I shall be giving more information about the Halloween Hunt, any information I give will be posted Saturday mornings on the notice boards so those who miss out need not worry. Now for this week's insight: the Halloween Hunt is meant to directly test the things you learn in your classes, from 1st year all the way to NEWTS. Now fear not youngsters, logic, problem solving and creativity are more important than technical knowledge and the hunt is not a "winner takes it all" scenario. The objects you find during the hunt are yours to keep so if you only get halfway through the list then you will get to keep those objects you have found. That said finding these objects is not easy and we have posted a "goal" mark for each year, how far through the list we expect students of different years to get. There is no guarantee that a 7th year will win in fact they might have the hardest time as the first few clues are all about first year knowledge, something long forgotten to the seniors. I cannot stress how important choosing your teams is. Having people from different background, houses and ages is vital to being successful. Now back to your dinners and then off to your beds."

Dumbledore gave a smile and sat back down looking as though he had just told someone where the bathroom is instead of a vital piece of information that changed many people's outlook on the hunt. While Snape was quite certain the objects wouldn't be expensive because there had to be enough for everyone participating, getting free stuff was always fun and if the clues got progressively harder than some of the later prizes might be quite good. It seemed the whole Hall erupted into chaos as old teams and friendships where breaking apart. Everyone wanted a good team to get the prizes, greed changed everything. Even Avery was staring at Snape trying to get the courage to ask him to be part of the team after making it clear he'd rather have Mulcibur. Snape thought this was as good a time as any to go to bed, or get some homework done so he quickly left the table before Avery could say anything.

As he was walking out of the Great Hall Snape looked at Lily, she was poking at her meatballs lethargically and trying to move further away from Potter who had more of his dinner on him than in him. The sight made Severus chuckle. It made him feel beyond good knowing that even if she wasn't interested in him she wouldn't end up with a prat like Potter. It was only now that Severus had time to think about what Lily said the night before. She hated Potter, a lot. As he crawled into bed Snape made note of how much better his mood was now than it was the night before. He was slightly happy instead of depressed to the point of taking a sleeping potion and there was another feeling. Excitement for the Hunt, the desire to beat Potter at it, respect for Lily for having figured out how stupid Potter was or maybe hope that their mutual hatred for Potter would bring them back together? Whatever it was it made him feel better than that damn sleeping potion did. Snape hated being groggy.

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Author's Note: This story is supposed to be quite long and so the pacing is slow thus far. I felt it was necessary for me to clearly describe the mind state of the characters and current events of the story before getting into all the fun stuff.


	4. Time, Please Stop

Chapter 4: Time, Please Stop

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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The first week of school was officially over and everyone in the NEWTS level looked exhausted. None of the 6th years expected it to be quite this hard, even Severus was a little worried about the workload. He always believed he was the one helping Lily with her work but perhaps she did something to help him as well, she was quick at finding books and was much more organized. It looked rather sunny outside and Snape really wished he was doing something other than sitting in the library finishing his Defense homework, not that he wanted to frolic in the sunshine. Non-verbal spells weren't a problem but figuring out what a spell was and how to counteract it was very difficult. Of course Snape didn't feel anyone in the class could cast a complicated spell non-verbally but that didn't mean Snape shouldn't know how to predict and block every spell he knew verbally. Frustrated with another book full of useless information Snape got up to put the book away and find another one. Between the rows of books Snape noticed a head of red hair and knew it was Lily. She was skimming the books and picking them out quickly just like she was always able to. Within minutes she had a large stack of books and she sat down at a table not far from his and began working on an essay. Creeping closer but hidden by a shelf Snape noticed she was also working on her Defense essay. Snape returned to his table and finished his Charms essay instead, it was clear that he would not find any good books because Lily had them all.

Snape kept a close eye on Lily to see if she was almost finished. He wanted to get the books before someone else did. About 10 minutes after Snape finished revising his Charms essay Lily stretched and put down her quill. She grabbed the books and walked over to the shelves, Snape jumped out of his seat and followed close behind. Snape was trying to stay a few rows behind Lily so she wouldn't see him but he must have let her get too far ahead because he lost her. As he turned around to try to find her again Snape walked into someone.

It was Lily. She fell on her bottom and her books fell helter-skelter all around her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you."

She seemed a little shocked because she hadn't gotten up yet.

"It's alright Sev, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Lily smiled weakly but Snape was left a little breathless upon hearing Lily call him "Sev". Snape bent down and helped her pick up her books noticing they were the ones he needed for his Defense essay.

"Hey Lily do you think I could borrow these? I haven't finished my essay yet."

"Uh, yeah of course. I'm all done; I was just putting them back now but here…,"

Lily grabbed one of the books,

"Don't bother with this one, total nonsense."

Snape smiled slightly and started gathering the books and levitated them instead of attempting to carry them all as Lily had. Lily seemed to notice this.

"Right… we can levitate things, sometimes I forget I'm a witch since I'm….. muggle-born.

Lily suddenly looked embarrassed and hurried away from Snape mumbling something that sounded like "gotta go". Severus knew the topic of her blood status would be touchy but that hadn't gone as badly as he thought it would. Determined not to let Lily control his mood Snape sat right back down and started on his Defense essay. He opened one of the books and a piece of parchment fell out. It had writing all over it and it was definitely Lily's, he'd recognize her tiny rushed handwriting anywhere. There were notes, dates and names scribbled across both sides of the parchment and there didn't seem to be any order to them. Words and phrases like "eye witness disappears", "Stopped at midnight" and "Lattimer" all jumped out at Snape. He was certain this didn't have to do with any of his classes but Lily was taking History of Magic so it could be notes for that. Snape stowed the parchment in his bag, he'd give it to Lily during their Transfiguration class on Monday.

iiiiiiiiiii

Sunday passed by quietly as the majority of 6th years were busy trying to finish all their work, it was not good to be behind after just the first week. Sluggish and yawning, a group of students slowly made their way into Professor McGonagall's classroom early Monday morning.

Snape was fairly tired as well but did not show it. He put his things down at his usual back-of-the-classroom seat then went over to Lily who just collapsed into her seat from fatigue.

"Hey Lily, you left this in one of the library books I think. Is it for History of Magic?"

Snape held out the parchment but Lily just sat and stared at him. After a few moments she seemed to regain her senses and took the parchment out of Snape's hand and looked it over a few times before saying,

"No, not for History of Magic, I just… well thanks."

Lily shoved the parchment in her bag and smiled weakly before putting her head back down on the desk. Severus went back to his seat wondering what would have Lily so interested that she spent who knows how long taking notes when she obviously barely had time to finish her school work. Just as Snape got to his seat Professor McGonagall called the class to attention.

"Now, most of you seem to have a good grasp of how to return Transfigured items into their original state and while we will continue to practice this in the real world things are not so simple. In class you've always known what the original state of the transfigured item was. This makes it much easier to reverse the transfiguration process. On top of that you all know that something has in fact been transfigured. Being able to tell if something has or has not been transfigured is also very important or you may end up at the Hog's Head drinking out of a rat instead of an actual goblet. Now each of you will have a set of 5 items, two have been transfigured and the rest have not. Figure out which ones have been transfigured and what they were before."

A Hufflepuff raised his hand,

"How can we tell?"

"Well Mr. Aitken by turning to page 42 of your text and reading until the end of the chapter but all the theory in the world won't be enough. Practice and developing an instinct is the surest way. By graduation you should be able to sense the traces of magic on transfigured items. Now everyone pair up and grab a set of items from the front."

Several people began making their way to the front. Lupin and Black paired up and Potter almost immediately stood next to Lily who ignored him and got a set of items from the front. Avery was coming back from the front with a lamp, a comb, a plate, a thumbtack and a tiny enchanted broom that was sweeping the other items. He set them all down in front of Severus and opened his text to page 42.

"Blimey she's making every class an on the spot test, how are we supposed to read all this and then understand it and remember it and then practice? I guess this is going to take the whole 3 hours."

Severus shrugged and looked over at Lily and Potter. They had a key chain, a rusty and dented spoon, a Frisbee, a bell and a conk shell. Potter was tapping the items with his wand while Lily was hovering her hand over each item one at a time. Snape turned to his set of objects, he'd already read this chapter and while the tips and clues were good what McGonagall said was right, practice and instinct are the best methods for distinguishing transfigured items from non transfigured ones. Snape tapped and prodded his items and could tell right away which ones were transfigured. He tried to look confused and let Avery have a go. After 30 minutes McGonagall started making her rounds. A few students guessed one object correct but not another, mostly people just guessed. When she reached Potter and Lily's table Snape turned and watched. Potter was leaning on the back two legs of his chair and had his eyes closed while Lily was still prodding the objects and taking notes.

"Well Mr. Potter you seem mighty relaxed. Am I correct in assuming you've got it all figured out?"

"Well Professor I don't mean to brag but this is downright easy."

"Very well, which items have been transfigured and how did you know?"

"Well first the spoon, it's all rusted and dented. The person who transfigured it obviously did a bad job and secondly the bell, just cause I know."

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well Mr. Potter it seems Miss Evans disagrees with you. Which two do you think were transfigured?"

"Well first of all the spoon was not. The most common transfiguration error that occurs in transfiguring metal cutlery is malformation, not dents or rust. Secondly the bell was transfigured but not "just because". It vibrates for uncommonly long when tapped with a wand and the pitch changes irregularly. A bell is a very precise thing and it is difficult to master by even the best magicians. The second item that was transfigured is the key chain. It was just plain poorly made. While at first glance it looks like a key chain upon further inspection the key ring is solid meaning it would be impossible to get a key on it."

McGonagall seemed pleased and turned to Potter who was slightly shocked.

"Well Mr. Potter perhaps more practice and less lollygagging and you could come up with half as good an answer. Very well done Miss Evans."

Lily turned back to her book ignoring the looks Potter was giving her, Snape was smirking and when Potter turned his way he noticed. Snape turned and pretended to read his book, continuing to smirk.

"Well, well, well, how did that mudblood get so good at sensing magic, and James is pure too, what an embarrassment."

Avery was staring at Lily in a way Snape did not altogether like.

"Actually, muggle-borns are more sensitive to magic precisely because they aren't used to it."

"A correct assessment Mr. Snape muggle-borns are more sensitive to magic but I'm sure Mr. Avery here will do a splendid job seeing as he is a pureblood himself. Go ahead Mr. Avery,"

McGonagall was standing behind Severus and Avery who was looking a bit sick.

"Ugh, well the boom seems weird, who would make a tiny self-sweeping broom and…. the plate?"

Avery pointed to the plate and tried to smile. McGonagall's face, however, was as stern as ever and her lips were extremely pursed.

"No Mr. Avery, it seems your pure blood does not help you much here, what about you Mr. Snape?"

Snape turned and picked up the lamp.

"Well the lamp, it lights without a bulb or being plugged in, a wizard wouldn't be aware of how electricity work and would assume the light just appeared. The second item is the comb, it also vibrates when tapped with a wand and unnaturally reacts to magic for something that should be plastic."

For good measure, fearing that McGonagall assumed he shared Avery's sentiments about muggle-borns, Snape tapped the comb and it turned back into a candle.

"Very well done Mr. Snape. Don't worry Mr. Avery, you'll have plenty of time to practice in detention.

With that the professor turned and moved on to the next table, Avery groaned and slid into his chair. When McGonagall was out of hearing range Potter turned to Snape.

"Seems a pity about the comb, you could have used it!"

Snape just sneered back at Potter and Black who were laughing.

"Please, James, look at yourself, there isn't a comb in the world that could fix that filthy mop you call hair."

Lily hit James with her book and went over to sit with some of the girls, crossing her arms and turned away from Potter. A slightly shocked Potter turned to Snape and pointed at him mouthing the words "one of these days!" Snape ignored him and tried to comfort Avery who was worried about missing Quidditch practice.

iiiiiiiiiii

After Charms on Monday Snape decided to start on his Potions assignment. Befuddlement Draughts weren't overly complex but making them on your own was different than in a class environment. Either way Severus had run out of Sneezewort and was on his way to Slughorn's office to get some. He got to Slughorn's office only to notice the door was slightly ajar. He knocked on the door gently and opened it with his wand out when he got no answer. It was too quiet in the office, usually Slughorn had some music playing and even without that the old fodder made noise every time he moved. Snape crept in silently and immediately knew someone was inside, he could feel it. He went around the desk and was suddenly face to face with a wand.

It was Lily.

"Oh God, Sev, it's just you. You scared the life out of me… I thought you were Slughorn!"

A shocked Lily was holding several letters and other papers. By the look of the desk and drawers, Lily had been going through them.

"What are you doing?"

"Me? I'm just… looking for something… why what are you doing?"

Lily was clearly nervous, she wasn't used to sneaking around and lying. She wasn't making eye contact with Severus, she was trying to keep him from finding out what she was doing.

"I need some Sneezewort for the Befuddlement project."

"Oh, well it's in the supply cabinet, second drawer from the top, on the left."

"Right and I'll get right to it after you tell me what you're doing going through my head of house's desk while he's gone. Where is he anyways, did you get Potter and his mates to distract him? Are you in on this together?"

"No Sev, it's not like that. I'm looking for something but I'm doing this alone. Slughorn's with the headmaster having tea and cookies, you know the man has to eat every 3 hours."

Lily tried to smile but Snape kept his face fixed.

"Alright I'll tell you but you can't tell anyone. Did you hear about what happened this summer? Big Ben stopped. You know the big clock tower..."

"Yes Lily, I know I'm not stupid and yes I did hear about it. The thing is old and decrepit, it was bound to break eventually, miracle it lasted this long."

"Well that's not exactly true. I overheard Professor Dumbledore talking to Minister Leach about it. Apparently the muggle architect was under the _Imperius _curse while he designed the tower and then went crazy and died shortly after. Dumbledore was a kid when it was built and knows all about it. He suspects a dark wizard was behind the malfunction this summer. The minister wouldn't listen but it's very suspicious, the clock was probably magical in some way and Dumbledore says magic broke it too, it doesn't make sense that someone would break a clock for no reason."

Snape considered what Lily was saying, it was just a clock and if a wizard wanted to destroy it they would have done more damage.

"Alright so what does this have to do with you breaking into Slughorn's office?"

"Well, Dumbledore reckons that a man named George Lattimer knows what happened and why someone would want to break the clock. Lattimer happens to be an old Slug Club member. Slughorn says Lattimer never mentioned anything about the clock but he was a wizard and he chose to watch and take care of a muggle clock tower? It doesn't make much sense since he was top of his class years back, he could have gotten a good wizard job. On top of that he disappeared just after the clock was broken. I'm looking through Slughorn's records to see if I can find anything. He keeps all the letters his club members send him and all their school records."

Severus couldn't help but be impressed by Lily. Most people wouldn't have put two and two together, perhaps that's what someone wanted.

"Alright well did you find anything?"

"I only just got here when you came by and Slughorn will be back soon, I'll have to come back another time. You won't tell anyone will you?"

Snape nodded "no" while Lily magically put everything back the way it was. He went over to the cupboard and grabbed the Sneezewort he needed and left with Lily. As they were walking down the hall they saw Slughorn waddling towards them.

"Hello Professor, I hope you don't mind but Lily and I got some Sneezewort for our Befuddlement Draught."

"No, no problem. Getting an early start eh? I'd expect nothing less from you Lily, carry on."

Snape sneered at Slughorn, he totally ignored him, typical. Lily and Snape walked together until it was time for them to separate in order to get to their own dormitories. They turned to each other.

"Thanks for not telling on me… Goodnight."

Snape waved goodbye and walked down towards his common room. Lily might be on to something but he couldn't imagine what anyone would want with the tower and why break it during that particular summer? And why was Dumbledore so curious that he was talking to the Minister for Magic about it? A kid when it was built? Blimey Dumbledore was old! Snape got to his common room and went up to his bedroom where Wilkes and Walden Macnair, who was in Mulcibur's year, were bent over some parchments.

"Hey Snape, mind if we borrow the room for a bit? Go hang out in the common room."

"No problem, but whatever you're going to do, do it on your own bed!"

Snape turned and left before the pillow Wilkes threw at him, hit him. He was only in there for a moment but Snape was sure of what he saw. As he walked down to the common room Snape's heart began to beat progressively faster. He only saw a bit because he was wearing long sleeves but he was sure of what he saw, the Dark Mark. Macnair was working for him and Wilkes probably was too if Macnair wanted to be alone with him. Worst of all were the parchments. They were definitely the building plans of Big Ben. Were he and his followers involved in what happened this summer and what would happen to Lily if they found out she was investigating it? As he sat down in a chair Snape was sure of one thing, he had to stop Lily from snooping around any further, he had to protect her.

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Author's Note: During the summer of 1976 Big Ben did stop. It had its first and only major breakdown in 150 years after some weights fell and destroyed a good chuck of the clock mechanism. It is also true that the architect went crazy and died after designing the clock.


	5. The Silence Before the Storm

Chapter 5: The Silence Before the Storm

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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Snape was up early Tuesday morning thinking up a way to convince Lily to give up her investigation of the Big Ben incident. He knew Ancient Runes was the perfect opportunity to talk to her sans the Potter crew and its idiocy. But what could he do, what could he say?

Option 1: He tells her the truth, that he was part of it and that she should leave it to the authorities and people like Dumbledore to figure out. The problem with that was that Lily would wonder how he knew about his involvement. That option would not work without him admitting to her that she was right about his housemates. It might also invigorate Lily's sense of justice and make her even more determined. Option 2: simply suggest that Lily was in over her head and that she should, once again, leave the situation to the authorities but that wouldn't work. As soon as someone questioned Lily's abilities she would work twice as hard to prove them wrong. Severus remembered when they were younger and he suggested she could never ride a broomstick well enough to make the Quidditch team, of course he had said that out of embarrassment at doing such a poor job during their first flying lesson. Wouldn't you know Lily was flying circles around everyone, even James, by the time their next lesson rolled around. Slytherins who remembered that incident still blamed Snape for giving Gryffindor their best and most level headed Chaser. Snape was frustrated, he wanted to find a solution but without giving Lily a good reason he couldn't stop her. He tried to put himself in Lily's shoes, what would stop him from trying to figure this out?

Nothing. That was the only honest answer. So what could Severus do, there was no way he was going to risk Lily getting on his bad side. Disheartened Snape grabbed his Ancient Runes books and left towards class knowing there was only one reasonable option: pretend to help her while keeping her away from anything dangerous. The only problem with that plan was Lily's continued anger towards Snape.

Severus got to Ancient Runes a little early and waited for Lily. When she came down the hall with Fateen, Snape slightly smiled at her and mouthed "we need to talk". After a few moments of hesitation Lily excused herself and walked down the hall towards the bathrooms. Snape waited a few moments and followed, making sure no one was watching him. As he turned the corner Snape was pulled into a vacant classroom. Lily closed the door behind him and said,

"What is it?"

"I want to help."

Lily was silent for a few moments, looking confused,

"Help with what?"

"The clock tower, I want to find out what happened. You're right it seems suspicious."

Lily looked rather unsure.

"But why would you want to help Dumbledore all of a sudden, you've always hated him. What made you interested?"

"It isn't about Dumbledore, I just want to find out what happened, pure curiosity."

Lily sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"Is this about Potter? Because none of that lot was involved."

Snape rolled his eyes.

"Well you would defend them."

Now it was Lily's turn to roll her eyes.

"No, I just know they were all in Hawaii with their families. James asked me along."

"And you didn't go?"

"Please, summer is my only break why would I voluntarily spend more time with them, besides I hate pineapple."

Snape was unsure of what to say. He knew he needed to convince Lily that he had a stake in all this without blurting out the truth, especially the part about being in love with her and wanting to protect her.

"Well seeing as Dumbledore talked to the Minister for Magic and no one at the Ministry is taking it seriously I think they are trying to cover something up and we can't let them do that."

Snape had frequently discussed the short comings of the ministry with Lily, maybe if she thought he was doing this to discredit the ministry she would buy it. Lily always believed the worst of him anyways. She considered what he said for a few moments.

"Well they should be taking it more seriously, but I don't know that they are covering anything up…. I...I… I guess, if they aren't doing what they should to protect the community we should bring them to justice. If we find that the Minister was neglectful then that's one thing but if not we should be impartial alright?

Lily nodded at Snape and stuck out her hand. Snape took her hand and eagerly shook his head "yes". He was just glad it worked. Lily rushed out of the room and Snape followed a few minutes later. They were just barely in time for class.

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When Ancient Runes was over both Lily and Snape lagged behind purposely, waiting for Professor Babbling to leave. The professor gave both Snape and Lily distrustful looks, she was likely still mad about them refusing to take part in the Halloween Hunt. Once everyone was gone Lily and Snape got together in the back of the classroom.

"Alright I still think our best option for finding information right now is Slughorn's records. I think if we both search we will find something more quickly. Slughorn is having a lunch "meeting" today with Professor Dumbledore in the Headmaster's office. According to the paintings I talked to they are usually in there anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes so we should work with the minimum amount of time."

Snape listened to Lily's plan and nodded then added,

"I'll keep a look out while you look, you know where he keeps his things better than I do."

With that Lily and Snape made their way down to Slughorn's office. They had to wait about 10 minutes before Slughorn made his way out of his office and towards the Headmaster's room. Snape was about to walk in when Lily said,

"Wait, check for Peeves first, he's always bothering Slughorn."

"Why?"

"Apparently Peeves hated his Potions Master and has taken out his hate on every Potions Master since."

Snape always thought Peeves just hated everyone and everything. Well, one more good reason to avoid becoming Potions Master at this forsaken school. After making sure the way was clear of both humans and ghosts, Snape and Lily snuck into Slughorn's office which was unlocked. Typical Slughorn. Lily went straight to his desk while Snape preformed some detection charms in case anyone came down the hall. Lily was going through the papers quickly, putting a few aside every now and then. She finished going through a large stack of records in 10 minutes and had a smaller stack to her right. Then she proceeded to make copies. Snape was amazed, he never dreamed that Lily would be so good at sneaking around and investigating also he certainly never imagined that she learned spells specifically for those very tasks. She was obviously very good at this as she was done in another 5 minutes and then returned every paper to its original place. Just as Lily was closing the last drawer, one of Severus' detection charms went off. In a moment of panic both Lily and Snape froze and looked at one another. They scrambled to grab their things and ran out of the office. They had just closed the door to Slughorn's office when James, Sirius, Remus and Peter turned the corner and came down the hall. The four boys were just as breathless as Snape and Lily.

"Oi, what are you doing down here alone with Lily huh?"

James said with broken breathe and his wand out, pointed at Snape's heart.

Lily moved to stand between Snape and Potter.

"Not that it's any of your business but Professor Slughorn asked us to arrange a few things in the Potions Supply Cupboard."

"Well…. Why did he ask you two?"

"Because"

Said Lily with a smile,

"We're the top two students in the class and the 7th years have more important things to do. Now I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand."

When Potter didn't move his wand Snape stepped from behind Lily, his own wand raised at James.

"How did you know we were here?"

James looked a little flustered, perhaps by what Lily said.

"I didn't, I just noticed you were both missing all morning."

"If you didn't know what are you all doing down here? And we weren't missing we had Ancient Runes."

James turned to Black who just shrugged. Lily suddenly made a noise, something in between "fuck" and "ugh". She turned to Potter with her own wand out.

"You've put a tracer charm on me haven't you? Who exactly do you think you are, my father? Just you wait Potter, one of these days!"

She shook her fist at James and took off. Snape sneered and slowly lowered his wand before following Lily towards the Entrance Hall and leaving Potter behind with his mouth half open.

Lily was walking quickly but Snape was taller and caught up to her in no time. She was muttering things like "prat" and "fathead" under her breath. When she noticed Snape she started on a rant,

"Honestly who does he think he is following me and watching what I do, besides the fact that it's invading my privacy it's creepy. I can't believe there are people like him, gosh!"

Lily went on like that until they reached the Greenhouse and looked cross all throughout Herbology, even "accidently" tossing a Puffapod at Potter.

Once Herbology was over Lily and Snape left separately but they had been passing notes during class and had decided to meet in an empty classroom on the 3rd floor to look over the copies Lily made from Slughorn's office. Lily started reading the letters from Lattimer to Slughorn and Snape went through his school records. Lily was right, he was almost a model student. He was a Prefect but not Head Boy as he opted to spend part of his 7th year abroad. It said he spent his first semester in Egypt but didn't specify what he studied. He studied Ancient Runes, receiving top marks at the OWL and NEWT level. He also studied Astronomy, Arithmancy, Divination and Muggle Studies with the same results. In fact he studied all 11 Hogwarts testable subjects, although with Exceeds Expectations for the rest and was part of the school choir. Snape wondered when this guy had time for sleep.

"Well all this says so far is that he was an exceptional student, he studied everything but was particularly accomplished in Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination and Muggle Studies."

Lily looked up from her letter.

"That's a strange combination."

"Yeah, he also spent a semester of his 7th year in Egypt, doesn't say what for though."

"Does it say what his blood status was?"

Severus thought it was strange that Lily would ask this question but he shuffled through the records until he found the family history page.

"Yes, he was a… pure blood. He was in Ravenclaw just like his mother and father."

Lily considered this for a moment and then went back to reading the letters. Snape continued through the records. The only weird thing he found in all of it was that his professors complained of him falling asleep in class frequently. Well if he was taking 11 subjects that wasn't surprising.

"Did you find anything Lily?"

"Well it seems he traveled around Europe and Asia after he graduated and sent letters to Slughorn frequently. Then after about 16 months he returned to England and took a job as the keeper of the clock tower and he sent a few more letters but it appears that Slughorn stopped responding. I guess he was disappointed with Lattimer's choice of career."

Snape didn't find anything strange about this. His head of house only liked to talk about his accomplished students. If he wasn't influential or rich, Slughorn wasn't interested in keeping ties with him. Disappointed that they hadn't learned much, both Lily and Snape left, promising to meet again if anything interesting presented itself.

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The rest of the week passed quietly. It seemed Lily had no new ideas and Snape was thankful for it. As he sat down for dinner on Friday, Snape noticed the Hall was rather packed and the remembered that Dumbledore would be giving another speech about the Halloween Hunt. No one was really eating; they kept glancing at Dumbledore waiting for him to get up. After 20 minutes of painful waiting Dumbledore decided it was time to give his next clue about the hunt.

As soon as Dumbledore stood up everyone froze and all talking ended without him having to ask for quiet.

"Good evening! Another week has passed us and it is time for another update on the quickly approaching Halloween Hunt. First I would like to make an announcement. Quiddtich captains should meet with Madam Hooch tomorrow morning to discuss new practice times. Because the Quidditch field will be used as part of the Halloween Hunt the field will be closed to students a week before the hunt is to take place so that it may be properly set up. Those who follow our Quidditch schedule will notice, therefore, that the first match between Slytherin and Gryffindor will have to be moved up a few days. As this means less time for practice I want to set up a schedule so that each team receives the same practice time."

Professor Dumbledore then motioned towards Madam Hooch, who made her way to the podium and addressed the Hall,

"Now I don't want to hear any complaining. If the days assigned to your team for practice are not good for sensible reasons they may be changed. Not feeling like waking up early or wanting to go to London for the weekend do not constitute good reasons. Now I want each captain in my office at 07:00 tomorrow and not a minute later!"

Madam Hooch then sharply turned away from the podium and made her way back to her seat at the head table. Dumbledore returned to the podium and continued.

"Thank you very much Madam Hooch. I'd also like to remind those old enough that the traditional Hogsmeade weekend will continue as always during the second weekend of October. Now on to the much anticipated information about our Halloween Hunt. As previously mentioned the winners will be taking at trip to Paris, France during the winter holiday as a prize. While there they will visiting our sister school, Beauxbatons Academy and will have a chance to interact with fellow wizards and witches. Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute will also be holding similar scavenger hunts and the winners will all gather together during their time in France. This will be a very exciting opportunity for the best and brightest wizards and witches from across Europe to meet and mingle. I'd also like to advise those who choose to participate in the hunt of something."

Suddenly the Hall became silent and very still as everyone eagerly waited for Dumbledore to speak.

"Not everyone will have the same experience. While the clues are progressive, each moving on to the next object, the correct order of objects will not be revealed until after the hunt is over. If you skip an object by accident you will not be made aware. This is a problem because certain objects are required to obtain other items later on in the hunt. There may also be instances where each member of a team will be tested individually. If one member does not complete a task they will be unable to move on and they may even be removed from the hunt. This is not simply a game; it is a serious test of your abilities and capability. People should not enter into the hunt lightly. No one's life will be in danger of course but it may become intense and frightening. I, therefore, suggest everyone seriously consider whether they can take part. Now that said, should a student find themselves unable to continue the same charm that lifts the no-communication clause between groups will also alert a professor or supervisor. The student who lifted the charm from themselves will be removed from the game and assisted in any way necessary. More information about the particular rules of lifting the no communication charm and of the hunt itself will be given next week. Now good eating and good night."

As soon as Dumbledore stepped away from the podium the Hall exploded into discussion. Many people looked worried and many of the younger students looked frightened. It seemed too good to be true, of course there would be a catch to getting free stuff. Many of the students did not seem reassured by Dumbledore's claim that their lives would not be in danger because that did not mean that injury was not possible. In contrast to the feelings of some of the younger students, Snape was starting to become interested in the hunt. A test of ability and wills was just what Snape wanted. He could show up Potter and prove everyone who dismissed him wrong, including Slughorn and Dumbledore. Maybe Lily would be impressed too, he could even give Lily one of the items he won as a gift.

As he thought about this Snape looked over at Lily, who was reading something intently while nibbling on some raspberries. She seemed very concentrated but the book she was reading wasn't a textbook, the cover was black with thin gold stripes. Lily looked beautiful doing the most mundane things. Severus didn't know how to feel. Lily was speaking to him and even letting him work with her on the Lattimer mystery but she was suspicious and rather cold towards him. Not knowing where he stood with her was more frustrating than her hating him. Snape decided it was better to give it some time. Things were looking up and maybe after spending some time together Lily would change her mind and forgive him. After everything that happened being friends with Lily again felt like enough.

Snape got up and left the Great Hall. There was no one to talk to, many of the Slytherins were not at dinner. They probably didn't care about the hunt and having Fridays off many of them probably went somewhere for the weekend. Snape had not seen any of his roommates since breakfast. Slightly bored and sick of doing homework Severus stalled while walking towards his common room. He felt like doing something tonight. Maybe he would try out a few tricky potions and work on some of his spells until curfew. Deciding anything was better than going cross-eyed working on Arithmancy, Snape walked deep into the dungeons into an old, dimly lit storage room. The room was narrow but deep, its stone walls were lined with wooden shelves and in the center there was a large stone slab where several cauldrons could be set up. The room was once used to house various experiments that the old Potions Master worked on. It was empty now because Slughorn was more interested in food and plushy furniture. He spent no time working on his craft, preferring to use his time to expand his Slug Club. The room was nonetheless the perfect temperature and was well equipped to hold experiments. Snape had used this room before but never for long term experiments as he had to leave Hogwarts during the summer. Snape flipped through his Advanced Potion Making textbook and stopped and at the first page without much of his scribbling on it. It was the page that briefly described Felix Felicis. The actual recipe for the potion was not there and Severus knew he wouldn't be able to use it during the Hunt, Dumbledore would have a way to make sure. Nonetheless it was a tricky potion, brewing it would definitely be a challenge for Severus. The book said that the potion took 7 months to complete unless the potion-maker had a 1 pound piece of pickled dragon tongue already in which case it took a full moon cycle. Severus decided to find a book with the Felix Felicis recipe inside and then decide if the potion was worth making. Pickled dragon tongue sounded expensive and hard to come by.

Slightly disappointed Snape left for his dormitory. The common room was starting to fill up as curfew was quickly approaching. Snape squeezed past a gang of first years and up to his room determined to get a good night's sleep so he could start on his Arithmancy work early Saturday morning. He opened the door to his room only to be greeted by a loud cry of pain and a blood soaked mattress.


	6. Damage Control

Chapter 6: Damage Control

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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Snape stood still in shock for a few seconds as the door swung shut behind him. He was taking in the scene. Avery was lying in his bed, looking pale and half dead with a large gash stretching diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip. Mulciber, Wilkes and Rosier were all standing around him, Wilkes was holding a bloody towel and a glass of water while Mulciber and Rosier both had their wands out. All three stopped what they were doing and stared at Snape as he came in. There was a tense moment as all their eyes met but then Snape put his bag down and pulled out his wand, as he knelt next to Avery's body he asked,

"What happened?"

The three looked at one another trying to figure out how to answer.

"I mean what was he hit with?"

Snape looked up at them but they all shrugged, they didn't know.

"Alright, someone search Avery's trunk I sent him some dittany and blood replenishing potion, he might still have some left. Wilkes pour some water on the wound so I can see it clearly."

Wilkes did as he was told and Snape saw that the cut was smooth, definitely made by magic. Snape tried the usual wound-closing spells but none of them worked. Snape realized that this was done by a very skilled wizard. Rosier found some blood replenishing potion and Snape administered it. Almost immediately Avery looked less pale and this seemed to calm everyone immensely. Snape applied some Essence of Dittany but it was only closing the very deepest layers of the cut.

"We should get him to Pomfrey! She'll know what to do or at least have better potions."

Despite the urgency in Snape's voice no one moved.

"We can't, she and the headmaster will ask too many questions."

Mulciber looked at the other two threateningly as he said this and they seemed apologetic but they didn't try to defy Mulciber's orders. Snape knew there was only one option left to them. Severus transfigured a slipper into an iron rod and magically heated it until it became red hot.

"Mulcibur hold his legs, Rosier, Wilkes each of you take an arm."

They did as they were told and Snape prayed this would work. He took his wand and decided to maneuver the metal bar with it instead of his unsteady hands.

"1….2….3"

On three Snape plunged the metal rod onto Avery's skin and he hollered in pain. Snape stopped immediately and casted _Muffliato_ and then turned back to Avery. After briefly reheating the iron rod Snape started again. Avery screamed and tried to move but the other boys held him still eventually placing him under _Petrificus Totalus_. It took Snape several minutes but he was able to close the wound. Avery was passed out and now had a rather large, ugly and pulsing red scar down his entire chest. Snape applied some more Essence of Dittany which did improve the look of the scar considerably. It was obvious to Snape that the magic used to make the cut prevented magic from closing the wound. Now that it was closed magic could be used to clean the wound up.

The other three boys looked exhausted. Wilkes and Rosier looked especially relieved while Mulciber looked mostly annoyed. After a few minutes of silence, when everyone was certain that Avery was out of danger, Mulciber turned to Snape.

"Thanks for your help but, this never happened as far as you're concerned, got it?"

Snape slightly resented the tone Mulciber was taking with him but he nodded yes. With that Mulciber took one last look at Avery and left to his own dormitory. When it was just the three of them both Rosier and Wilkes thanked Snape.

"We just didn't know what to do, we'd tried everything. I was sure Avery was a goner."

"I suppose you can't tell me what happened but you really should have been more careful and if you all were doing something stupid again why didn't you ask me to make more potions. You could have brought them along!"

Both Rosier and Wilkes looked confused.

"We'd never gone…. done this before."

"Well Avery wrote me during the summer and asked me to make him some potions, I assumed he was doing something stupid or else he would have gone to a shop and got them. Don't know why he didn't do that this time."

Rosier followed Snape around the room with his eyes. Snape was tapping different things to get rid of the blood on them and transfigured the iron rod back into Avery's slipper.

"We didn't think he'd get hurt, we still don't really know what happened."

Wilkes nodded in agreement. They both looked like they wanted to tell Snape what happened but were too afraid. This, and Mulciber's involvement, convinced Snape that they were out doing his bidding. Severus thought it was best not to ask any more questions so he told the other two to wash up and get into bed. As he lay down in bed, Snape realized how tired he was and fell asleep immediately.

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Snape woke up the next morning wondering if last night was a dream. He looked over at Avery's bed. There was not a spot of blood in the room, compared to the mess it was last night it almost didn't seem possible. He saw that Avery's trunk was still open and it clearly looked like it was rummaged through, probably from when he asked for the blood replenishing potion. Avery was still in bed sound asleep, it was Saturday so he didn't need to get up. Snape suspected that no one would see him all weekend. Despite the wound being closed and the blood potion his body would need lots of rest to really recover.

As he walked into the Great Hall, Snape felt a certain tension in the air. Several Slytherins looked grave and somber but not Mulciber, he was happily stuffing his face with scrambled eggs. As he sat down next to Wilkes who gave him a weak nod, Snape saw what all the tension was about. The Saturday edition of the _Prophet_ was opened next to Rosier. The headline on the front page stood out.

_DEATH EATER ATTACK INTERUPTS PARTY AT MCLAGGEN HOUSEHOLD, AURORS INVOLVED._

Severus grabbed the paper and began to read the article.

_A quiet birthday party held for Faustus McLaggen's 42nd birthday was interrupted late last night when six individuals, all believed to be death-eaters, forced their way into the McLaggen household and began attacking several party goers. Most of the guests were able to escape uninjured by apparating. Several aurors were present at the party and defended the guests against the intruders; the aurors managed to severely injure two of the assailants and forced the others to flee. No identities of either victims or attackers are being released but early statements made by witnesses state that the attackers were wearing masks similar to the ones death-eaters have been often seen wearing. All of the injured guests were taken to St. Mungo's and a source within the hospital said that all the guests were treated and have fully recovered. When asked for details the Ministry of Magic refused to comment although auror Alastor Moody exclaimed that "next time he would get the whole lot of them." No clues as to the motivation behind the attack were given, however many speculate that….(continued on page 6)_

Snape put down the paper and looked over at the Gryffindor table where a large crowd of people were comforting Tiberius McLaggan who was a 5th year. Among the crowd of people was Lily who had her hand on McLaggan's shoulder. Several Gryffindors as well as many students from other houses were staring accusingly at the Slytherins who ignored them for the most part. Snape decided to grab a sandwich and eat in the common room instead.

As he was leaving the Great Hall, Severus heard a voice behind him,

"Hey, Sev, wait up."

Snape turned around, it was Lily, who was chasing after him slightly out of breathe.

"Wait, I want to talk to you."

"Lily, if it's about the attack I don't know anything. I was just as surprised as you when I heard about it."

Lily looked at him suspiciously.

"Honestly Lily, Slytherin house doesn't get updates from him about his plans. Not every Slytherin is a death-eater or evil despite what you think of the guys. As far as I'm concerned a Gryffindor is just as capable of breaking into someone's house and causing chaos, in fact, Potter and Black have a talent for it."

Slightly annoyed Snape turned around and started walking away from Lily. She never changed, Slytherin was the equivalent of evil, of course she expected him to know something considering how her housemates looked at him.

"No, Sev, wait it's not about that. Well I was going to ask about that too but… let's go talk somewhere else."

Snape decided to follow Lily and find out what she wanted. Once they reached the second floor Lily dragged him into an empty classroom and locked the door, then turned to Snape,

"I've been thinking for a while about a way to get more information about Lattimer. I finally realized that I could talk to Slughorn, saying that I was thinking about going on an exchange maybe to Egypt, maybe that would give us some clues. Well, that's just what I did and apparently people only study in Egypt for five reasons: code-breaking, Arabic, prophecies, death magic and magical creatures originating in Africa of which the Sphinx is the most popular. Now with his specialties we can assume Lattimer went to Egypt for either code-breaking or prophesy work."

Snape considered what Lily said. From a variety of possible interests Lily had pared it down to two. The problem with the leftover options was that they were both, potentially, very dangerous. If Lattimer was involved in either code-breaking or prophecies, then chances were that it wasn't small time. He was the top of his class, he wouldn't have bothered with anything mediocre. Snape didn't like how close Lily was getting especially with the developments of last night. It could be Lily's house that Avery, Rosier and Wilkes were sent to next.

"Well, that does make sense Lily but he could have gone there for other reasons. He could have had a friend who lived there, or maybe he changed his mind after going there and decided to do something else with his life. I don't think we should jump to any conclusions."

Lily seemed disappointed with his answer, some of her excitement had visibly drained from her.

"I guess you're right but I think it's a good lead. So about last night,

Lily hesitated for a moment when Snape gave her a glare,

"I'm not accusing you or your housemates of anything I was just wondering what you thought about it, about why anyone would attack the McLaggens. The people at the _Prophet_ reckon it was because McLaggen refused to join the death-eaters but unless he is in need of money he wouldn't much care to have McLaggen as a follower."

"What do you mean?"

"Well McLaggen is rich and well connected but not much of a wizard, he has more luck than skill in fact, Tiberius could cast circles around him. He's just some socialite who likes to buy expensive things and then show them off at house parties but nothing was reported stolen so I guess they weren't after his genuine ivory, gold encrusted bowl."

Lily said as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, have you considered they weren't death-eaters?"

"Oh no, Severus, they definitely were. Tiberius told me that a few of the guests saw the dark mark on one of their arms and that auror, Alastor Moody, said that one of them was a death-eater he'd encountered before. Said the death-eater had a scar Moody had given him during another fight."

For the first time in his life Severus wished that Lily was stupid. The death-eaters weren't being careful and Lily was being too observant. He tried to look pensive and concerned and then excused himself. Lily was certainly dissatisfied with Snape's reaction, she had probably been waiting to tell him all this for a long time. Feeling like he needed to clear his head, Snape went over to the library to try and find a book with the Felix Felicius recipe inside. After searching for half an hour Snape's concerns were realized: the only books with the recipe were inside the Restricted Section. Snape had no desire to deal with Madam Pince, so he decided to come back that night.

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It was half past midnight and Snape was creeping out of his common room and into the hallway, careful and listening for any sound of ghosts or Mr. Filch. Snape made his way to the hall of the library before he encountered any real trouble. Just as he was sure the way was clear Snape heard footsteps up ahead but didn't see anything. Quite certain he was hearing a ghost who liked to hear themselves walk Snape continued ahead for a few steps until he heard two voices that were, unfortunately, very familiar to him.

"Are you sure Padfoot?"

"Yes, the map says he's around here somewhere and so is Lily"

How could Potter and Black possibly know where he was, and Lily, was she really around here? Snape remembered the incident with the tracking charm and considered that they may have one on him as well and that perhaps they'd found a way around Lily's counter charm. Snape aimed his wand at the empty air where the voices were coming from and cast a revealing charm. Sure enough two people were there. So Potter and Black were sneaking around the castle at night, using one of the many invisibility or anti-detection spells, to find out what he and Lily were doing. Determined to stop them Snape cast an anti-tracking spell over himself and went to find Lily to do the same. Knowing she was close Snape went to the library, it seemed like a likely place for her to be.

He quickly searched the library but couldn't find Lily. Just when he was on the verge of giving up and checking some of the nearby classrooms, Snape heard a noise coming from the restricted section of the library. He went to take a closer look and saw a light but the door was locked. He decided to go in and check it out anyways, after all he needed to check the Restricted Section for a book with the Felix recipe. Severus walked slowly, crouched down to avoid being spotted and only passed two aisles when he saw a nervous looking Lily flipping through a book. Smiling to himself, Snape crept behind Lily and yelled,

"Boo!"

"AHHHHH!"

Lily scream and the book she was reading flew out of her hands, landing on Snape's head. This caused Lily to giggle and say,

"Sev, gosh! I nearly had a heart attack. Don't do that! What are you doing here?"

Severus rubbed his head on the spot where the book hit him and then picked up the book, handing it back to Lily.

"I'm looking for a potions book, I want to brew something interesting, and I said interesting not dangerous but it's not in my text and I didn't want to bother with Pince so I came here. What about you?"

"Me oh, I'm looking into our Mr. Lattimer, I'm trying to find out more about the stuff he was studying in Egypt."

Severus couldn't believe how determined Lily was to find out what happened to this guy. Snape was starting to think there was more to this than Lily was telling him. Just then he remembered what happened outside.

"Lily, while I was outside I heard Potter and Black talking but I couldn't see them. I think they are using some cloaking spell. Problem is they seem to know where both you and I are, do you think they are still using that tracking spell?"

Suddenly Lily looked livid, she opened her mouth in shock and huffed. She slammed the book she was reading shut and started towards the exit. Snape took this opportunity to find his potions book. He found it rather quickly and grabbed it. He then made a fake copy and placed it on the shelf, just in case Pince would notice anything missing. She spent so much time in the library that it wouldn't surprise Snape if she knew where every book was. After this Snape went outside, careful to relock the door just as Lily had. He found Lily alone outside in the corridor.

"Well they aren't here anymore, are you certain it was them?"

"Yes, I'd recognized their voices anytime, they've yelled profanities at me often enough over the years and I did a revealing charm and there were two people crouched down in the hall."

"Well, I'll have a talk with them, won't give away anything about all this though. Goodnight."

Lily then turned and walked down the hall, waving all the way. Snape waited for her to disappear and then turned to go his own way but stopped. There was definitely more to this whole Lattimer/Big Ben incident than Lily was telling him. Snape decided to go back into the Restricted Section to see what Lily was reading. Snape reentered the Restricted Section and went straight to the aisle he and Lily had been in just minutes ago. He picked up the two books Lily had forgotten to reshelf in her haste to catch Potter and Black. The first was a book on Egyptian tombs and it had information on notable code-breakers and finds. That seemed in line with what Lily said. Snape then looked at the second book, it was the one that flew onto his head. It had no title, was covered in black leather and was rather large for a book. Snape opened it to discover that it was a family line book. In it were the names of most of the pure blood families in England, however, this book was only as modern as the 18th century. The family name Lattimar was nowhere to be found, however, Prince and several other Slytherin families' names were. As he put the books back on the shelf and left the library Snape couldn't help wondering what Lily was really investigating and why.


	7. Every Lily Has Its Thorn

Chapter 7: Every Lily Has Its Thorn

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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Sunday morning dawned and a very grumpy Snape got out of bed at first light and went into the Slytherin boys' bathroom. He didn't get a wink of sleep, he'd been tossing and turning while thinking about what Lily was up to. She could have been looking in that book to find out about Lattimer's heritage, perhaps she had traced his family back to a Slytherin family back in the 18th century. But why would this be important and why hadn't she mentioned it? Snape spent the remaining time until breakfast finishing up some homework. When he closed his books and starting getting dressed the other boys woke up and stumbled into the washroom, except for Avery who was still asleep. Snape had checked on Avery's scar and it was fading considerably. It may never be gone completely but it should be faded enough that no one would ask questions. Snape headed down to the Great Hall determined to find out what Lily was up to.

Snape ate slowly, waiting for Lily to come down to breakfast but at 10 o'clock she was still a no-show. He decided to check if she was in the library again but on his way up the stairs he saw Lily come onto the stair landing a floor above. She was in a rush and didn't see Snape so he decided to follow her. Staying several paces behind, Severus followed Lily to the headmaster's office. She whispered something to the gargoyle and it jumped aside allowing her into the office. Severus waited for her to come out but hid behind a statue so she wouldn't see him.

It was nearly 11 when Lily reappeared looking rather grim. Lily had never been in trouble so what could she have possibly done to get called to the headmaster's office? He remembered that she was out late last night, perhaps it wasn't the first time or maybe she was spotted by Mr. Filch on her way to the dormitories. Slightly concerned Snape caught up to Lily.

"Hey, I just saw you walk out of the headmaster's office, everything alright?'

Lily nodded yes,

"Umm hum."

Despite this her expression still looked dour and she was hanging her head, staring at her feet.

"Did you get in trouble for being out last night?"

Lily looked up suddenly and then smiled weakly.

"Uh, yeah, no biggie though it's just detention."

"Oh, well I guess that's not too bad. So…. Did you find out anything else about Lattimer?"

"Umm not really, he isn't mentioned as a noted curse-breaker."

Snape and Lily began walking towards the Great Hall.

"Well do you have any other leads, anything else you're looking into?"

Lily nodded no then said,

"Listen I gotta help Mary with her History of Magic essay, I'll see you later."

Lily waved goodbye and jogged away leaving Snape even more concerned than he was this morning. He had no other choice, he had to see the headmaster.

Snape turned around and walked back to the headmaster's office and stared at the gargoyle. He coughed to get its attention but it completely ignored him.

"Umm, excuse me, I'd like to see the headmaster."

The statue moved slightly and asked,

"Got an appointment?"

"Well no… but it's rather important, could you ask the professor if he could see me?"

The statue grumbled but then motioned to a man in a painting who disappeared. The man in the painting reappeared a few moments later and said,

"The headmaster will see you."

With that the gargoyle begrudgingly moved aside and allowed Snape to step onto the moving spiral staircase. Once Severus reached a large wooden door he knocked.

"Come in."

Said a voice inside and Snape opened the door slowly and stepped in. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk fiddling with a number of strange looking instruments. When Snape walked in and closed the door behind him Dumbledore looked up and said,

"Ah, Mr. Snape. Not often I get a visit from you. Are you here to complain about Mr. Potter and Mr. Black's actions once again?"

"Well no, not exactly professor, although their behavior is a constant cause for concern in my opinion."

Dumbledore cocked his head slightly and gave Severus a half smile. Snape moved towards the desk and sat down in a large, over-stuffed chair without being asked. Snape had no desire to be here but he had to find out what was going on.

"Actually I'm here to talk about Lily."

Dumbledore suddenly became interested. He put his instruments to the side and crossed his fingers staring at Severus.

"What about Miss Evans?"

"Well as I'm sure you know she and I are investigating the disappearance of George Lattimer as well as his possible involvement in the damage done to the Westminster clock tower."

Dumbledore nodded his head and motioned for Snape to continue.

"It is also clear that you and Lily have been meeting and discussing our findings, what I'm not certain of is why Lily would try to keep that from me. If we are working together we should share information together as well."

"Right you are Mr. Snape but Miss Evans was under the impression that you… dislike me and that you'd rather not be involved in our meetings. She decided to serve as a liaison."

"That's a lie."

"Yes, Mr. Snape I suspect it is but you'll have to discuss that with Miss Evans. Now while you are here I'd like to ask you a few questions."

The headmaster got up from his chair and tapped a strange looking mirror with his wand before turning around to face Snape once more.

"I have noticed that Mr. Avery has been missing from meals and I have not seen him about the castle but I assume he is not sick as Madam Pomfrey has not attended to him."

So he knew that Avery was involved in the McLaggen incident.

"Avery is fine and he did not wish to eat in the Great Hall so we brought him food."

"We? Who does that refer to Mr. Snape?"

"We means his roommates and housemates. Your very observant, professor, to notice one student missing, do you keep tabs on all of us."

"Naturally, it is my duty to ensure the safety of all my students."

"Well then perhaps you have also noticed that Potter and Black have been out in the middle of the night, following Lily around. You might also have noticed that they bully anyone who crosses their paths for fun and that Lupin is not taking his prefect duties seriously. I mean if you noticed Avery's absence for one Saturday surely you've noticed all of this, or is it that Potter, Black and Lupin may do as they wish while Avery is made suspect for doing nothing at all?"

Severus was furious, Avery spent a day in his room and he was being watched while the Marauders ran amuck in the school and Dumbledore did not care.

"Well, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black seem to be concerned for Miss Evans' safety."

"Why? Because she's with me?"

"That seems to be it. Do they have any cause to be concerned?"

"I would never let anything happen to Lily while I'm with her and you have not answered my questions"

Snape saw a flash of anger in Dumbledore's eyes, most people would have missed it.

"I have about as much evidence of Mr. Potter and Mr. Black's wrong-doings as of Mr. Avery's and I can't punish one group without punishing the other."

"What exactly are you suggesting headmaster?"

Snape jumped out of his chair and stared at Dumbledore.

"Why don't you tell me Mr. Snape?"

The two wizards were staring at each other, faces close together as Dumbledore was only a few inches taller than Snape. At that moment Snape felt a stream of memories flow in front of him and he knew what Dumbledore was trying to do. Snape's mother was an accomplished Occlumens and Severus had been training since he was young. After lulling Dumbledore into a false sense of security by allowing him access to some pointless memories of him doing homework Snape went on the offensive. He focused his energy and pushed back into Dumbledore's mind to his most recent memories, his meeting with Lily.

_Severus saw a nervous looking Lily sitting in the same plush armchair he was sitting in just moments ago._

"_I couldn't find anything about Severus but I did link most of the families together but I don't think that means anything, from what I know almost all the pure-blood families in England are related."_

"_Has he told you anything about Avery's absence?"_

"_No, nothing. He doesn't seem to know much and I was with him on Saturday, he couldn't have been involved."_

"_Very well, keep me updated and remember you're doing the right thing Lily."_

_Lily nodded sadly and left the room._

Then Severus was back in the present and he was standing face to face with a shocked and wide-eyed Dumbledore. Fearing retaliation, Snape ran out of the room and didn't stop until he reached the Slytherin common room. His mind was whirling. How could Lily be spying on him for Dumbledore? Did she really believe he was involved with the death-eaters? Shock was quickly turning into anger and Snape stomped down the stairs to his dormitory. He opened the door with such force and he was so mad that he didn't notice the large crowd of boys all standing around.

Yaxley, Crouch, the younger Black, Mulcibur, Wilkes, Rosier and a weak looking Avery were all standing around and staring at Snape. Severus looked back and them, panting and red in the face, and said.

"What?"

Mulcibur walked in front of the group and put his arm around Snape.

"I have a preposition for you Snape."

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Snape spent most of the week ignoring Lily although this was not difficult because Lily made no attempts to speak to or even look at Severus. As he walked into Ancient Runes on Thursday and put down his things, Snape was prepared to be bored, he suspected they were going to review what they'd learned in the past month as September was nearly over. Lily came into the room and didn't so much as glance in Snape's direction and he was glad for it.

When Professor Babbling came in Snape knew this lesson would not be a simple review. The teacher was levitating several different pieces of stones with engravings on them.

"Good afternoon class. We have spent the last 4 weeks learning how runes can change their typical meanings in certain contexts, they can even mean the opposite thing sometimes. Today each of you will be tested on this knowledge. Everyone will get a Rune Stone. These Rune Stones are enchanted to change their Runes every 2 minutes. You will have to figure out the correct meaning of the Runes before they change into the next sequence. Speed is important but so is figuring out the correct meaning. Everyone please come up to the front and take a stone."

Several students unenthusiastically went up to the front of the room and grabbed a stone. Snape was always able to figure out the correct meanings but he had never timed himself, he was more precise than quick. When everyone had a stone the professor addressed the class again,

"This exercise will help you improve your instincts. All the rune sequences are related and have an overall message. On the count of three you may begin. 1…2….3!"

The entire class scrambled to read the first set of runes. Snape looked down.

_Love is…a fire. An, all consuming fire._

Severus was sure that was the first line. He barley had time to write it down and double check before it changed. After the first 3 sequences, Snape began to see the pattern and the rest of the sequences became easier to interpret although he wasn't totally sure if he was right. The time seemed to fly by although by the end of the exercise more half an hour of class was over.

"Alright students let's see what you have come up with. It is difficult and you will improve as the year progresses so do not be concerned if you were not able to figure out every single sequence. However, I should tell you that this type of test is often used during the practical NEWTS exam."

Professor Babbling went around to a few students who said they'd gotten a few stanzas. She seemed disappointed when half the class said they only figured out a few words off each sequence. Snape listened and heard a few stanzas that were similar to his and others that were totally off.

"Well, for your first attempts most of the class as done well. Was anyone able to complete each stanza? It is alright if you aren't certain of your translations, we are here to learn."

Lily and Severus were the only ones to raise their hands.

"Oh, Mr. Snape and Miss Evans? Well that doesn't surprise me. Would you two like to read your interpretations? You first Miss Evans."

Lily cleared her throat and began,

"_Love is an all consuming fire_

_A spark ignites within your eyes_

_And burns up your soul_

_Even an ocean of tears could never put it out_

_But every night I cried and tried_

_Until I became hollow_

_These ashes are our memories_

_Carelessly left in the wind_

_They blow away to where you can forget them_

_This is the face you choose to see"_

Professor Babbling smiled, she seemed to be very happy with this but it was almost the opposite of what Snape had interpreted. Suddenly he didn't want to read his.

"Very well done Miss Evans, now Mr. Snape please read yours."

Snape was nervous but he figured that the worst that could happen was that Professor Babbling said he was wrong.

"_Love is an all consuming fire_

_A spark that ignited when I first looked at you_

_And warmed my soul_

_No ocean could put it out_

_But every night the sky tried to rain on it_

_Until the heavens became empty_

_Even when we are but ash and memory_

_Our love will blow with the wind_

_And never be forgotten_

_This is the face you choose to see_."

When he was finished Professor Babbling was smiling at Snape which confused him greatly.

"Very well done, both of you. I was hoping this would happen, you don't know how pleased I am. The class will notice that Miss Evans' and Mr. Snape's interpretations are completely opposite but they are both correct."

Snape was very confused, as was everyone else in class it seemed.

"Remember when I said that runes could have almost opposite meanings when taken in different situations? These runes are a poem which the author wrote in such a way as to allow it to be interpreted in both a negative and positive way. The poem is about love and the author was so ambiguous that each person who read it would believe something different about the poem. Those who had been hurt by a lover and were unhappy would have read it the way Miss Evans did, a reaffirmation of how terrible love is. On the other hand, those who would read the poem while in love and happy would read it as Mr. Snape did, as a poem that celebrated the wonders of love. The point of this exercise is to show you all that Rune Translations should be taken with a grain of salt. The mind state and opinion of the translator can have a huge impact on the nature of the translation. That is why when in doubt one should always translate a rune themselves. Now knowing the answer I would like everyone to try translating again, see if you can spot the correct rune translations this time around."

With this the class began to swarm around Lily and Severus, asking for a copy of their translation so they could try and spot the runes that corresponded to the words. The class divided itself not based on house or gender. The class divided itself the way the poem intended them to, Alice stuck by Lily and got her copy while Mary McDonald asked for a copy of Severus'. It was then that Lily and Snape looked at each other for the first time since Saturday afternoon. As they stared at each other the classroom became fuzzy and Snape began seeing memories that weren't his.

_Lily was running towards the castle crying, shouts and laughter could be heard from afar._

Then the scene changed.

_Lily was alone in a washroom splashing water on her face. When she looked at herself in the mirror her face was red and puffy. The washroom behind Lily became dark and suddenly she was standing in a room with several different over-stuffed chairs and a fireplace, it was draped in gold and red. Potter was in front of her. He was holding onto her wrist as Lily struggled to get loose._

"_Come off it Lily you have no reason to say no, every other girl would die to have me as a boyfriend."_

"_Well then go chase after them then!"_

_They were both yelling at each other and Lily was still trying to break free of Potter's hold on her wrist._

"_Snivellus has really twisted you hasn't he?"_

"_Don't call him that!"_

Snape's vision became blurry and then the Ancient Runes classroom came back into focus. Lily had blinked and a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped the tear quickly and began gathering her things.

"Next week we will begin learning a few new runes so make sure you bring your notebooks! Alright, class dismissed"

As soon as Professor Babbling said that, Lily ran out of the room leaving Snape behind with his heart beating in his ears. He had not intended on looking into Lily's memories but he was focusing so hard on her that it must have happened accidentally. Slowly Snape began to remember a few things and he felt anger towards Potter for hurting Lily but another side of him felt like she deserved it. Even though she defended him, it must have been a memory from a long time ago. Lily had never really spoken up to defend him since that day.

Finally Snape gathered his wits and collected his things and left the classroom.

_You have to be focused Snape, tomorrow is a big day._

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Author's Note: First off, I'd like to thank the handful of dedicated readers and those who consistently review my story (especially you matrice). I'd like to let you all know that I'm going to be moving about 700km in just under a week and the move will take up a lot of my time. It is temporary, I will be away for 5 weeks but fear not I will post another chapter at least before I leave and will continue updating during those 5 weeks but perhaps not as often. I hope you all will hang in there with me. To those who messaged me asking about the length, the intention is to write up to a year after Snape and Lily leave school so I'm undertaking this as a long term project. Thank you again and I'll be looking forward to your reviews, they will keep me going through the next 6 weeks until I return home!


	8. Follow the Black Brick Road

Chapter 8: Follow the Black Brick Road

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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It was the beginning of the first full week of October. It had been 10 days since Snape had accidently looked into Lily's mind during Ancient Runes and that was the last time the two of them had any form of contact. This hardly bothered Snape, however. He was just as eager to limit their conversations, especially since Saturday morning when he could hardly look at himself in the mirror let alone anyone else.

It seemed the school was in a similarly depressed mood. The updates about the hunt which everyone looked forward to had disappointed many. Snape found out Saturday morning that all Dumbledore had said on the subject was that the spell used to lift the no communication spell and to call for help was _non-defero alio_. The spell was simple and involved making an X in the air with your wand from top left to bottom right and then top right to bottom left. Everyone mastered it in a matter of minutes, except for a handful of first years who were dubbed squibs by their classmates from that moment on.

That school week flew by as each class was spent in testing. It was hard to believe September was gone and that soon the midyear exams would take place.

After the brief announcement made by an annoyed Dumbledore on the subject of the hunt many expected last Friday to be far more interesting but they were wrong. A ministry official addressed them and spent close to an hour reading over the rules which included all the same rules as Ministry approved sporting events and no hexing or cursing other teams was allowed, this was made possible by the no communication charm. After the official had finished reading each word and point of punctuation on the scroll he rolled it up and gave a military salute before leaving the Great Hall, not stopping for questions. A disappointed and bored crowd sluggishly left the hall and went up to their dormitories. A few people had even fallen asleep during the speech and had to be awakened by their classmates.

When Monday came it seemed everyone in the castle realized that the Hogsmeade Trip was this Saturday and suddenly they all woke from their haze. The school was abuzz with gossip about who was going with whom and what they would do. Others discussed what they would buy and many dares involving the Shrieking Shack were made. The 3rd years listened to the 4th years as they described every store and the 1st and 2nd years also listened, but with immense jealousy. For Snape the weekend meant nothing. During previous Hogsmeade trips Snape would follow Lily just to see what muggle clothes she would wear but this time he was determined to lock himself in his room and get his homework done. He had resolutely said this to himself so often the past week that he was well aware he did not have enough homework left to get him through Saturday. It was then that Snape remembered the Felix Felicus he intended to start but never did. A large project was just what he needed and perhaps he would try a few other potions too. As he looked through his Advanced Potions Making book for interesting potions he hadn't worked on only to stumble on the recipe for Felix Felicus. So it had been in the book all along, Snape hit himself mentally and looked over the recipe, 6 to 7 months to make, it would take him nearly to the end of the year. The problem would be procuring all the required ingredients. Not all were easy to find and certainly not cheap. He decided to go to the potions cupboard to see what he could find and then work on getting the other items.

Severus walked over to Slughorn's office and as he approached he noticed the door was slightly ajar. As he got closer he could hear two people talking within.

"Well Lily, I have to say I never knew you were interested in Gobstones but of course you can start the team up again. It was very popular a few years ago but now it's just a few students who play for fun. I'm sure you'll be able to revitalize the team!"

Severus stood still and considered that there could be many reason for Lily's desire to get involved with the Gobstones team. She never seemed very interested although Snape remembered trying to teach her how to play once. Snape wanted to believe this had nothing to do with him because he did not want a confrontation. Snape had not properly spoken to Lily about the memories he saw in her mind nor in Dumbledore's and he dreaded a repeat of the scene between her and him the night after the incident in front of her common room. As he was standing outside the door pondering, the two people inside Slughorn's office stopped speaking and were moving towards the door. Before he had time to hide Lily and Slughorn walked out onto the corridor and noticed him.

"Mr. Snape, excellent!"

Slughorn said, walking over to Severus and patting him on the shoulder.

"Do you know, Miss Evans here is trying to start up the Gobstones club again. I remember you mentioned it to me once, why don't you join up as well and help her hum? Didn't your mother play? What a brilliant stroke of luck!"

Slughorn's mention of luck reminded Snape why he was here.

"Uh sure professor, why the way do you have any plangentine? I'm brewing a little side project for potions and I need some ingredients."

"A little side project, why of course you can, help yourself. Care to tell me what it is? Ah no, better you don't, surprise me! Well carry on."

With that Slughorn tottered away and left Lily and Snape alone in the hallway. After an uncomfortable moment Snape rushed inside to get the things he needed. As he was shuffling through the cupboard he heard the door close behind him. He froze and turned slowly. Lily was standing with her back to the closed door, looking at him. They both stood very still, looking at each other, Snape was holding a plangentine in one hand and an alihotsy in another. Lily suddenly looked away and moved her lips, she wanted to say something but was hesitating. Severus didn't want to encourage her so he turned back to the cupboard and started shuffling through the plants again, nosily. He couldn't see Lily anymore but after about 3 minutes he heard the door open and Lily left. As soon as he was sure Lily was gone, Severus' hands fell limply to his side and he sat on the cold stone floor. He wasn't sure how much longer he could ignore Lily. He almost wished Lily still hated him because hatred would be better than what she would feel if she knew the truth.

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Snape hated the Blacks. The world would be a much better place with the whole lot of them gone. Until recently Severus had ignored the younger Black but he was quickly becoming a nuisance and the older Black, well he was Potter's shadow.

Regulus Black had spent the past 11 days haggling Severus with questions every time they saw each other. Black was too eager, too attentive and asked too strange questions for Severus to feel proud that someone had taken him as a teacher. Crouch Jr. also listened but never asked any questions preferring to whisper his questions to Black who would repeat them to Snape. It was clear Crouch felt a half-blood like Snape was below him and not worth speaking to. Both of them wanted to learn the Dark Arts and they both seemed to think there was no better teacher than Snape. Snape was sure that thus far he had only shown his defensive and healing abilities but it seemed that his juniors felt anyone who knew how to clean up the mess a spell made could certainly produce the spell as well.

Taking a short cut on Tuesday morning to avoid Black, something he had done frequently these past few days, Snape tripped over something. The corridor he was in was a little known short cut and it was empty and dark. He looked down to see what he tripped on and found a large black leather bound book. It had no title and the pages were all empty except for the last page which had a strange symbol on it. Snape decided to grab the book and take it back to the library this afternoon, perhaps returning the book would give him some brownie points with Pinch who always had a bad impression of him as he liked to write in his books. This wouldn't bother Snape much except for the fact that he spent a great deal of time in the library.

Snape was slightly later for Ancient Runes that morning than usual but as the Professor had not yet arrived, he was not punished. He slid into his seat, grateful for the peaceful Black-free environment that Ancient Runes provided. He dropped his bag and the leather book on his desk and then put his head down. When Professor Babbling arrived, Snape looked up, most of the class already had their books out, however, Lily was nowhere in the room. Snape hoped she wouldn't come to class because it was only in Ancient Runes that he couldn't use the presence of Potter as an excuse to ignore her. He opened his book and the class started sans Lily, Fateen seemed worried and kept glancing over at Lily's chair. She didn't have to worry for long because Lily arrived 10 minutes after class began, looking flustered and angry.

"Miss Evans, it isn't like you to be late, as a prefect as well, well anyways please take a seat but I will have to take 5 points from Gryffindor."

Snape watched Lily curiously. She seemed angry, but no more so than when she entered the class. In the past Lily would have been distraught at losing 5 points from her house, in fact she felt terrible if she wasn't able to win points for her house consistently. What could have made Lily so late for class and so angry? Snape wasn't able to ponder this too long because Professor Babbling announced to the class that they would be receiving their marks for their first test, which had been held last week. Severus, along with the rest of the class became alert and watched Professor Babbling as she walked around the room with a stack of papers in her hand. Babbling was always quick to give tests back as the translations were either right or wrong. Snape got his test back, 103 out of 107 runes correct. The ones he got wrong were all misinterpreted rather than mistranslated. After the weekend he had, Snape was satisfied with his mark.

Snape looked over at Lily, trying to decipher her mark. As though she expected this, Lily turned sharply towards Snape and saw him looking at her test. She glared at him for a few moments then was interrupted by the professor.

"For a first test I am pleased overall, however, almost everyone had trouble with interpretations. "

She flicked her wand and an exercise paper appeared in front of each student.

"Please work on this sheet, it is full of interpretations work. Once you are finished come to me to have it checked. Once everything is correct, you may leave."

As soon as the professor had finished speaking Lily started gathering her things. Snape couldn't believe it, first she was late for class now she was going to skip out, what exactly was going on? As Lily walked down the aisle of the classroom towards the door Severus stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"Move, please!"

"Aren't you going to finish your work?"

Lily held up her test for Snape to see; 107 out of 107. She smirked and started to walk again when something made her stop. She looked over Snape to his desk to see his mark but her eyes did not stop on his test but rather on the leather book lying on his desk. Slowly Lily's eyes turned back to Snape.

"Where did you get that?"

Snape looked over his shoulder at his desk and the book.

"I found it in a corridor, someone must have dropped it, I'm going to return it to the library."

Lily made a strange face then looked relieved.

"No need, Snape, its mine. I must have dropped it."

Lily reached for the book but Severus grabbed it first and held it out of her reach, since when was he Snape to _Lily_?"

"This is yours? What were you doing in that corridor? It's completely out of the way coming from the Gryffindor common room."

"I don't see how that's any of your concern."

"Well I don't see your name on this book, what if you're lying?"

Snape put the book in his bag and Lily's face flushed red out of anger, just as she was about to explode Professor Babbling came over.

"Miss Evans, if you don't feel the need to practice you may leave but please allow Mr. Snape to do his work."

Furious, Lily stomped out of the room.

Knowing Lily would try to get the book from him after class Snape decided to investigate it while he was supposed to be practicing his Ancient Runes interpretations. He opened up the book which was just as blank as it had been when he found it that morning. Severus silently tried several revealing spells but nothing came from it. The paper was slightly crinkled, just like the parchment Lily had dropped at the beginning of the year. How the girl managed to crinkle all her paper, Snape couldn't figure out. Slightly disappointed in himself Snape turned to the symbol at the back of the book, it wasn't anything he recognized. After trying a few more spells Severus gave up and did his runes work, had it corrected and went back to his desk to gather his things and leave. He was frustrated, he knew Lily would be waiting for him outside and that she was hiding something from him but he couldn't figure out what. As he was shoving things into his bag Snape spilled his pen ink all over Lily's book. The ink dripped everywhere and Snape decided that today was just not his day. As he began siphoning the ink off the book and cleaning it up Snape noticed that the ink was avoiding certain parts of the pages. The ink was revealing words spliced with runes.

Working on a hunch Snape lit a small fire and warmed the pages of the book, careful not to attract attention. As if by magic, words and runes began revealing themselves on the pages. He smelled the paper, lemon. Lily wrote in lemon juice. An old muggle trick which no revealing spell would pick up, the perfect way to conceal information in a wizard school. Snape flipped the book over and turned to the back page, it was probably muggle made, the symbol would be a creation of some wannabe magician, perfect to throw off a real wizard. Greedily, Snape looked at the words and runes as they appeared on the pages of the book. Nearly the entire book was full of them and his eyes raced over the pages not stopping to read them just yet. Lost in the sudden pleasure of figuring out a difficult puzzle, Snape did not notice the end of class and the exit of Professor Babbling, nor the door seal shut as Lily walked in.

When he heard the door slam shut Snape looked up and found the classroom empty. He dropped the book but Lily had seen that Snape was able to figure out how to reveal what was inside. She no longer looked angry, which frightened Severus. Deciding it was better to get to the point, Snape said,

"What are you keeping from me?"

Lily walked over to Snape slowly and picked up her book before answering.

"No more than you're keeping from me."

They both glared at each other and Snape wondered how much she knew about what he had done that last weekend of September and what she could be keeping from him that was just as… big. There was only on way to find out, he would have to confront her about what he saw in her and Dumbledore's minds.

"How long have you been taking Dumbledore's orders, is that the only reason you bother with me?"

Severus hoped this would shock Lily but she was still calm and replied coldly,

"How long have you been taking _his _orders, is he the reason you and half the Slytherins were missing two Fridays ago when, _coincidentally_, an entire family that openly fought against him were murdered in their home?"

Severus inhaled deeply and slowly.

"I haven't done anything wrong, I didn't kill anyone."

"But you're not denying that your friends did, that you helped them?"

Lily's voice was scared, as though she feared the words would pain her as they left her mouth, as though she didn't really want an answer.

"I did what I had to in order keep them alive."

"Keep them alive! WHAT FOR? Why are they worth saving?"

"Lily, no matter what I couldn't let them die because they had to do what he says. Can't you see they are victims too, they can't say no either."

"They don't WANT to say no, they like killing people!"

Lily raised her voice, nearly yelling and becoming emotional, and Snape could see the situation was getting out of hand so he tried to keep calm and did not raise his voice.

"Lily what are you saying? You can't bring yourself to kill bugs but now killing a bunch of confused teenaged idiots is perfectly alright? What has Dumbledore done to you?"

"HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, THEY DID, YOU DID! I didn't want to… believe… but YOU… how?"

Lily whipped out her wand and pointed it at Severus' face, her voice was shrill from the effort of yelling in a way she had never done before. Her eyes were watering and Snape couldn't move from shock. He'd never seen Lily like this before.

"YOU KILLED HIM, IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

Lily screamed and thrust her wand right into Snape's face. He knew something was coming but Snape couldn't reach for his wand, he couldn't move. He wanted it, to be punished, he knew he deserved it. He had tried to block out what he knew was true for so long. Everyone in the house that night died. He wasn't there so he couldn't know whose wand did what but he read the papers. Severus knew he helped heal his friends, who were or would be death-eaters, when they came back early Saturday morning just as he helped Avery after the McLaggan incident. As a flash of red light poured out of Lily's wand and flowed towards him, all Snape could see was the headline of the Saturday Prophet,

_6 MEMBERS OF WIZARD FAMILY AND MUGGLE MAN KILLED LAST NIGHT, DEATH-EATER INVOLVEMENT SUSPECTED._

The image of Lily standing in front of him darkened as Snape felt pain shoot through his body from every angle. Somewhere in the distance Lily was shouting,

"_Crucio!_"


	9. There's a Well Where That Man Used to Be

Chapter 9: There's a Well Where That Man Used to Be

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: Here is chapter 9, it's a bit longer than the other chapters to make up for my absence. As I said before I'm not sure when chapter 10 or any other chapters will be posted for the next month because I am currently away from home. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story and review often *wink wink hint hint* I really enjoy reviews and am curious to know what readers' and fans of HP think of my take on the characters (My Lily is a bit different from the ditzy or obnoxious Lily I usually see, although I haven't read a ff in a while) and the Marauders Era. Thank you for your continued patience and support.

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(Prophet continued…)

_Just before midnight yesterday, several individuals broke into a wizard home near Sheffield and killed all the inhabitants which included 3 wizards 2 witches, a young child and a muggle man in his 50s. No names or details have been disclosed but death-eater involvement is suspected as the nature of the attack resembled that of the McLaggan attack earlier this month. Many speculations as to the identities of the victims have been made but with a large and growing list of missing wizards it is difficult to figure out who is simply missing and who could have been the victims of this attack. The muggle man seems to have been a visitor and may have been the reason for the attack. The group known as the "death-eaters" often attack wizards who intermingle with muggles. The death-eaters are suspected to take orders directly from He-Who…_

These words echoed in Snape's mind almost as though he was reading them aloud. The words slowly began to fade and he became aware of his surroundings. Pain crept into every part of his body and he became aware of the hard, cold floor he was laying on. He opened his eyes and once they were adjusted to the light he noticed he was in the Ancient Runes classroom. He propped himself up on an elbow and rubbed his forehead and eyes, trying to remember why he was here. As though they were waiting for a moment of vulnerability, his memories drilled into his mind and flashed in front of him.

_Lily_

_._

Avery, Mulcibur and Yaxley

.

The blood

.

_Lily_

_._

She was yelling

.

_IT'S YOUR FAULT!_

_._

Dumbledore's office

.

Lily's wand

.

_Crucio! _

When he remembered this last detail he slumped back to the ground, lying on his back with his legs and arms sprawled out. He looked up at the ceiling. Lily had used an Unforgivable Curse on him, successfully. She hated him, hate.

Hate… Unforgivable…. Blood.….Laughter... Yaxely, Avery, Mulcibur, Wilkes, Rosier, Black, Crouch

They all passed through his head like the passenger cars on the Hogwarts Express, speeding past, faster and faster, blurring together and in the space between each car he saw Lily looking at him as she had before she cursed him. She was walking closer with each passing car until the entire train passed, all 11 days and they were face to face and she only said one word,

Hate.

Snape jumped up and ran to the window, pressing his hands on the ledge and pushing himself just over the threshold, to jump over, to end the pain but at the last moment he stopped himself and just yelled, he screamed out over the grounds and damned their unconcerned peace. He yelled until he retched all the breath from his lungs and then crumpled underneath the window, listening to his own painful cry echo back at him, laughing at him. He pressed his hands over his ears but it just became louder in his own mind. He began to shake as he tried to crawl away from the window and out of the room. He crawled over the stone floor in a panic, for his life. He knew staying in this room would kill him and he had to get out, to get to the door, to open it, to escape.

He was almost there, the door was so close. The handle was within reach and he stretched his hand out towards it. Just as he thought he would grab it, it turned and flew out of his grasp. The door opened and a bright light blinded him. The silhouette of a man appeared before Snape and for a moment he thought it was his father but then his hand fell down and so did he, collapsing again into sleep.

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Snape woke up Wednesday morning in his own bed. As soon as he was conscious he sat up and looked around. He rubbed his eyes and saw nothing but his dormitory, nothing strange and nothing out of place. Perhaps it had all been a dream. It had to have been a dream. Snape got up and ran into the washroom. He took a cold shower waking himself up and convincing himself that he had dreamed the whole terrible ordeal.

When he was finished he got dressed without waking his roommates and slipped out into the common room. Although it appeared empty at first, Snape noticed Regulus Black sitting in an armchair looking grave and as though he had been waiting for Snape. They stared at each other across the room for a moment and then Snape also slumped into a chair. It hadn't been a dream, not even a nightmare, it was real.

"Alright Snape?"

Severus raised his head and looked at Regulus, he nodded weakly yes then asked,

"What happened to me?"

"I'm not sure, you were missing all day and I asked around, seems like the last place anyone saw you was in the runes classroom so I went up there to see if I could figure out where you went. Never expected you'd still be there, you were in bad shape. So really I should be asking you what happened."

Snape closed his eyes and tried to block out the memories that his mind had automatically opened when Black asked his question.

"I ended up dueling with someone, left me a little wrecked. How come no one found me until so late?"

Black hesitated a bit before answering,

"Professor Babbling cancelled all her classes, so no one went near the room all day."

"Why did she cancel her classes?"

"Some of her family was killed last Saturday."

Black looked at Snape knowingly. Snape pressed his eyes shut tight and then pressed his palms onto them, anything to stop the memory, the knowledge from creeping into his mind. He hurt both Lily and one of his favorite teachers in one night. Remembering Lily and what happened Snape looked up at Black and said,

"The muggle man was Lily's father."

Black nodded yes and then turned away from Snape. He got up and spoke with his back to Severus.

"The whole school knows about it now, I suspect _the Prophet_ is going to print the names of all the deceased tomorrow now that they've been identified."

Deep in his stomach Snape felt a terrible pang of regret the likes of which he'd only tasted that night last year. He shook with terror. He got up to stop the trembling but he just felt worse. He ran back to his bedroom and grabbed a calming potion from his suitcase and ran right back out with his bag, having no desire to see or speak to his roommates. He didn't stop in the common room where Black was still standing, facing the wall. Snape ran all the way to Arithmancy and buried himself in the work, he didn't even let himself think of Potions class, of lunch, of facing Lily or facing what lay ahead. He just wanted to get through that moment and then the next.

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Once Arithmancy was over, Severus went back to his bedroom. He spoke to no one and stared at the floor. He debated whether he should even show up to potions but he knew that he'd have to face them all at one point or another, so why not just get it over with. He gathered all his courage and walked over to the potions classroom deep in the dungeons.

He timed his arrival so that Professor Slughorn would already be in the class not allowing anyone the time to ask him questions or attempt to curse him. When he walked into the classroom he received the exact welcome he had expected. Potter and Black were staring maliciously at him while Lupin pretended he didn't exist. Everyone else looked scared and any other Slytherin nodded curtly before turning to their cauldrons. Lily was missing and Snape felt that this was either a very good thing or a very, very bad thing. He pulled his mind away from all that and listened to Slughorn who had a somber expression on his face but made no mention of the incident.

Halfway through class a younger student came in and whispered something to Professor Slughorn. Without saying anything or showing any emotion he went into the back area of the classroom and filled a brown paper bag with several potions. He handed the bag to the girl who skipped away rather quickly. A few students gave Slughorn curious looked but he ignored them. Snape looked down at his potion and continued stirring. He stared at his reflection in the purplish liquid and it began to warp into a different face. His nostrils became thin, his eyes red and his skin pale. Shocked and frightened Snape broke the peaceful surface of the water but the face was still staring up at him, laughing. It took all of Severus' nerve not to run out of the room, he just kept stirring.

As soon as Slughorn dismissed the class and walked out the atmosphere in the room changed. Most of the students were unaware of this and went about packing their things and emptying their cauldrons. Snape knew trying to escape now would just postpone the event, not prevent it so he purposely stayed behind. When everyone but Black, Potter and Lupin had left, Snape turned around, wand in hand, ready for anything.

"Oi, Snivillus!"

Snape turned to James but made no sound and held his face still, showing no emotion.

"You think you're something now that your one of _his_? You're still just a piece of trash, you've just got a tattoo now. You."

James pointed his wand at Snape.

"As soon as I'm out of this school, no as soon as I come of age and I don't have a tracer on me I'm going to find you. I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Lily. She didn't fancy you so you off-ed her father? You! I always figured you for a freak but murderer…. I didn't think you had the stones, but don't think you've won. I'll make it my life's goal to see you dead. I'm going to give your head to Lily as a wedding present."

It seemed James had wanted to make this little speech before he did anything to Snape, to be sure he heard everything. The entire time Black's hand twitched towards his wand impatiently. Unfortunately for Potter he never got a chance because Albus Dumbledore came sweeping into the room not a moment after James had finished speaking. The headmaster looked at Snape and then at the 3 boys standing opposite him and understood what was happening.

"Mr. Snape you will please come with me."

"Why?"

Snape snarled at him, he wanted to face Potter, to show him he wasn't scared. The one time Severus wanted to duel, that's when Dumbledore intervenes.

"Because I demand it Mr. Snape and I am the headmaster of the castle. Now if you will follow me up to the hospital wing..."

"No Professor! You can't let him go anywhere near Lily, he'll kill her too!"

Potter looked more scared than Snape had ever seen him. He was pleading.

"Do not worry Mr. Potter, I will not let any more harm come onto Miss Evans whilst she is in the infirmary. I need to discuss a few things with Mr. Snape and, as he is also in need of medical attention, I was simply trying to get two things done at once. Two birds with one stone as they say although I find the remark rather vulgar, as does Fawkes of course."

Potter stuttered slightly, not understanding how Dumbledore could fly off into such remarks when, as he believed it, an extremely important discussion was being held.

"W... Well… Why would he need medical attention, he's fine, his mind is a little screwy but he's always been like that."

Snape glared at Potter and at Black who remain surprisingly quiet.

"Well you are correct on one fact Mr. Potter, Mr. Snape's head is a little, as you put it, screwy. Now if you'll excuse us."

Realizing he had no choice, Severus followed Dumbledore out of the room leaving a shocked Potter and a stone-faced Black behind.

Dumbledore said nothing the whole way to the infirmary. Severus thought that perhaps the old man wanted to question him but he said nothing and walked rather briskly. When they reached the infirmary Severus saw Madam Pompfry coming out from behind a curtain.

"Oh hello Albus, she's stable but she's still out, her vitals don't look too good either. Oh"

Madam Pomfrey gave a start, she obviously had not expected Dumbledore to come with anyone.

"She's stable, that's good to hear Poppy."

Dumbledore was nodding his head and looked happy to hear the news but his eyes betrayed him, Snape could see that Dumbledore was slightly disappointed. What did he want Lily gone as well? As he thought that Snape remembered about Lily's father. He addressed Poppy,

"How long ago was Mr. Evans' funeral?"

She looked at him for a few seconds, surprised and then answered,

"Hasn't been one yet, they only just released the bodies today, suppose it will be soon though."

Severus looked at the curtains surrounding the only occupied bed, the shadow of someone lying down was visible, they were eerily still.

"Is that Lily? What happened to her?"

Although he asked Madam Pomfery it was Dumbledore who answered.

"I was hoping you could tell me."

Dumbledore was staring at Snape but he was not attempting to probe into his thoughts this time.

"Why would I know what happened? Is it shock from hearing about her father?"

Dumbledore considered his answer for a second then said,

"Perhaps, but according to Mr. Potter you and Lily were alone together right before she became ill. She seemed to have known about her father since last night…. so it would be strange for her to be in shock so long afterwards but it is of course possible, perhaps it only sank in after a night's sleep. Professor Babbling did mention she was late and looked rather frazzled."

Even while saying this Dumbledore was looking at Snape expectantly, waiting for Snape to contradict him. When Severus said nothing in response Dumbledore asked,

"Did the two of you discover anything new about our Mr. Lattimer?"

Severus made a note of the use of "our" as though the two of them were on the same side, thinking the same thing.

"No, we haven't had much time and not much to go on."

"But you are still investigating, yes?"

Severus nodded yes and the headmaster looked pleased.

"Well I look forward to the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match, no hard feelings of course, may the best team prevail. Oh and of course there is the Hogsmeade weekend to take advantage of. Well goodbye."

Dumbledore waved and left the infirmary as though Lily had woken up and was fine and there was nothing to worry about except keeping peace between the two houses for Quidditch. Once Dumbledore left Severus realized that Madam Pomfrey was gone which left just him and Lily in the room.

Severus walked over to the bed and pulled aside the curtains. Lily was lying on the bed on her back. She looked as though she was in a full body bind, her arms and legs were pressed together tightly and she was clutching her blanket but her face showed no sign of distress, in fact her face held no emotion. Severus brushed some of Lily's auburn hair out of her face, lightly touching her forehead in the process. Her skin was hot. Snape put his hand on her forehead to be sure. She was hot, very hot. He looked over to the bedside table where the empty potion bottles were stored. Of all the medicine she had taken, none of them were for a fever. Snape also noticed that the bottles belonged to Professor Slughorn. After casting _muffliato_, Snape went over to the medicine cupboard and found something for a fever. He went back to Lily's bedside and administered the medicine. Then he whispered,

"What happened to you Lily?"

Almost as though in response Lily's lips parted slightly but she neither moved nor made a sound. Severus transfigured a pillow and put it on his chair before sitting down. He held Lily's hand and watched her sleep.

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It was nearing midnight and Snape was still sitting in a chair beside Lily. She had not moved at all and there was no calm in her figure but her fever had subsided. Severus rubbed his temples and got up to stretch. For hours he had been checking her progress and reading the report Madam Pomfrey made when she was admitted. Her symptoms were not those of normal shock. Mary and Alice were in the next room when she lost consciousness and they both reported her screaming in pain for a few minutes before fainting.

Whenever someone came to visit Lily in the infirmary, Snape would disillusion himself and stand in a corner. Several classmates came to see Lily. Some were just curious after what they heard about her father. No one believed this was anything more than shock and mourning. When Pomfrey did her last walk-through Snape again disillusioned himself and then cast both _muffliato_ and a detecting charm to make sure he wasn't found by Madam Promfrey after visiting hours.

It was just after 1 am when Lily began to mumble. Severus closed the book on medical fungi he was reading and leaned in closer to hear but when he got close Lily began to move frantically. Surprised by her sudden movement and fearing she may be having a fit of some sort Snape started running towards Madam Pomfery's office but then Lily woke up with a gasp. She looked around frantically and was clutching at her neck, out of breath. Then she realized she was awake and calmed down. Lily looked around her and saw Snape halfway across the room, staring at her wide-eyed.

"Li…Lily, are… are you alright?"

Lily was gasping for breath but nodded yes. Severus started walking towards her she jumped out of bed and asked,

"What happened? Why am I here… and… well why are you here?"

Suddenly Severus felt awkward, it was so much easier when she was unconscious.

"I wanted to be sure you were alright. What happened?"

"To me? I just, over... I just needed some rest. Why do you care anyways? Don't you want me dead, just like my father, just like you want all the filthy mudbloods dead?"

Severus sighed and walked over to his chair, sitting down.

"No Lily, I don't want you dead, and I didn't want your father dead and I didn't want anyone else dead… well… except perhaps Potter."

"Don't lie to me! I know you're one of them!"

Lily grabbed Snape's arm and rolled up the sleeve of his left hand. When she saw it was bare she rolled the other one up. When she found that was equally lacking she dropped his hands.

"Well I don't know where he's putting them these days but I know, you're all a part of it! Don't think you can fool me! I know you're taking order from him, your nothing but his puppet."

Severus stood up, getting angry.

"Lily I haven't been marked and I am not taking order from anyone, which is more than can be said for you. How are you any different, you're just Dumbledore's puppet! What happened to your father… I'm sorry…. I really am… but I don't know what happened I wasn't there and I'm not defending them but don't for a second pretend your lot are any different! Dumbledore is just using you and Potter just likes picking on anyone who bothers him instead of muggles!"

"DON'T you think I know that?"

Lily screamed and a slight flush was visible on her cheeks. She was out of breath and she shook slightly, like a leaf in the wind, before she slipped down towards the floor. Severus caught her and helped her to the bed. Severus felt a similar flush creep up to his cheeks as he had Lily slumped over his torso and shoulders. Severus mentally kicked himself, now was not the time. He also made a note of suggesting thicker nightgowns for patients to Pomfery. Snape sat Lily down on the edge of the bed where she sat for a few moments, clutching her head. Snape sat down on his chair and waited for her to recover. After a few moments Lily looked up at Severus, her eyes wide and hopeful.

"You really weren't there then? Oh Severus please tell me you didn't watch my father die and did nothing!"

Lily reached over and grabbed Snape's shirt with both hands, they were staring at her other. Severus knew there was only one way to make Lily understand. He opened up his mind to her and did his best to present the memories in an orderly fashion.

_Several of the older Slytherins were standing in Snape's room and Mulcibur had his arm around Snape's shoulder. _

"_I have a proposition for you Snape. Me and our mates are doing a little something special Friday night and we were wondering if you were interested in… helping out."_

"_What exactly is it that you have in mind?"_

"_Oh nothing big, well… you see a few people we know having party but we aren't invited so we decided to invite ourselves."_

_Severus looked at Mulcibur then at Avery._

"_Well if you're going to 'party' how about leaving Avery out of it, he hasn't recovered from last time."_

_Mulcibur looked at Snape and then laughed._

"_Want to take his place? We were just going to have you on stand-by, maybe whip up a few more potions but if you're eager, you can come with."_

"_I'm defin__i__t__e__ly not interested, I have enough scars as it is and I don't think you'd have my ass if the party went bad."_

"_Your right Snape ol' boy, I'd use your ass as a shield. Well you know the drill, have some supplies and be ready."_

_Mulcibur gave one more chuckle, staring at Snape and wagging his figure then he hopped out of the room. Once he was gone Snape looked at the others._

"_You know, if something were to happen to Mulcibur and you lot brought him to me… I think I'd chuck him out the window."_

_When Snape said this everyone smiled with relief and Black started asking Severus more questions. Avery shooed the younger boys away and Rosier and Wilkes filed out of the room after them. When it was just the two of them Avery said to Severus,_

"_I wasn't going to say anything… but… I know I'd be dead mate so… thanks."_

"_What I said before wasn't a joke, don't risk yourself to do what that asshole wants. If he wants to pull a bunch of crazy stunts for fun let him, he's beyond repair well… you nearly were too."_

_Avery looked at him and nodded._

Snape blinked hard and broke the connection with Lily. She let go of Snape's shirt and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring blankly for a few minutes then said,

"That's it? Mulcibur didn't say anything else to you? Place, time, what he was planning, where he got the idea? Nothing?"

Severus nodded no and answered,

"I figured he was going to gate crash another party at some rich wizard's house and break some stuff. He likes that sort of fun, just a few years ago he targeted me as much as any of the muggle-borns, Mary wasn't his first victim."

Lily looked at Severus aghast, not saying anything.

"Lil, I'm so sorry about your father. If I knew for a second I would have told you, I would have stopped him… I'd never let. Oh you know that don't you?"

With her mouth still half open Lily looked at Severus and sat thinking for several minutes, or perhaps several hours… it seemed so long. When she finally spoke it didn't reassure Severus at all.

"I….I'm not sure, I don't know. What am I supposed to believe? How should I feel? My father is dead and whoever took their wand to him is to blame of course but, Severus you can't honestly tell me now that that lot isn't evil! And don't start with Potter I know he'd kill you if he could, he's no better but that doesn't make killing children alright! They were just kids and my father wasn't capable of harming them! I… I just…"

Lily broke down crying. She had her hands over her eyes and her hair fell down in front of her face. Severus felt as if his heart was being pulled out of his chest piece by piece. All he wanted was to hold Lily and make everything better but he felt as if his arms were dirty and he would spoil Lily if he touched her. He could hear Potter saying 'murderer' over and over in his head. Unable to continue watching Lily cry and not being able to help her, Severus ran out of the infirmary and down to the Slytherin common room. It was nearly two in the morning.

When he got to his room he slid in quietly so as not to wake anyone and plopped down onto his bed. He knew Lily would be fine now he didn't have to worry but there was still a terrible aching in his heart.

His mind naturally traveled back to his confrontation with Lily. He'd never seen her so mad. Then his memories continued flowing backwards to Ancient Runes. He wondered vaguely if he had any homework for the class seeing as Professor Babbling cancelled all her other classes. He tried to remember but he spent the last part of class revealing the words in Lily's book. Then a sudden thought seized him. No longer caring about his roommates' sleep he opened his trunk and rummaged through it until he found a box. He opened the box and took out a blank piece of crumpled paper. It was the piece Lily had dropped at the very beginning of the year. Snape ignited a small flame with his wand and gently moved it under the parchment.

There wasn't much on the parchment but it was definitely Lily's handwriting.

_Come back to me._

The wand fell from his hand as Snape inhaled sharply and pushed the paper to his chest. It was as though Lily was next to him and she had whispered it in his ear. Opening his teary eyes Snape looked out the window to the night sky and made a silent promise, holding the parchment to his heart. He slumped over onto his bed and fell asleep still hearing the ghost of Lily whispering to him, further now as though she was walking away,

_Come back to me._

He was falling into a dream, he could almost see it in his mind but the presence of the rough and warm parchment in his hand kept him conscious just a moment longer and he whispered back to Lily,

_Forever.… and ever… and ever.._


	10. Paging Howard Roark

Chapter 10: Paging Howard Roark

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: In case any of you were confused Lily was NOT found in the Ancient Runes classroom, she was in the girls' bathroom in the Gryffindor dormitories hence Mary and Alice over-hearing her.

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Despite its location deep within the castle, the sun shone brightly into the Slytherin dormitory, creeping between the bed hangings and onto Severus' face. The brightness of the sunlight bothered him greatly and slowly pulled him out of his dreamless sleep. His body was cold and aching, that sliver of sunlight was his only source of warmth. As he opened his eyes he opened his bed hangings and allowed more sun to pour onto his body. He pushed the hair off his face with his hand and felt something there. Opening his hand, a piece of parchment fell out onto his chest. His hand had been clenched the whole night and he developed a knot. It was still there, the writing. His memories came back to him painfully.

With great difficulty Snape got out of bed and went into the washroom after placing the piece of parchment safely in his treasure box. He looked at himself in the mirror and wondered vaguely if he looked any worse today than he usually did. He couldn't tell. He didn't want to go to class but he knew he wouldn't be allowed to skip class just to see Lily, if she wanted to see him at all.

By the time Severus stepped into Defense Against the Dark Arts, a rain cloud had covered the sun and it was slowly trickling outside like some strange soundtrack to Snape's gloomy mood. He listened to the first few words of the Professor's lecture on shield charms and then opened his book to the section on Unforgivable curses. Beyond the techniques used for the curses he never bothered reading about the effects on victims nor the mind state of the caster. The book gave few details except that the curse could have various effects on the victims, including but not limited to: losing the ability to feel, paranoia, confusion, insomnia, insanity, losing one's ability to balance one's self, losing one's ability to walk, depression, random jolts of pain and hallucinations.

Snape considered all of this and the way he'd been feeling. Perhaps it was the aftereffects of the curse. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath then continued reading. The curse was most effective when the caster wanted to inflict unjust pain and was therefore not as useful as a form of revenge. If that was the case why did Lily choose it? Maybe she wasn't thinking about the particulars. Snape considered the pain and realized it did not last long and wasn't, well it was horrible but… wait did he scream? Severus racked his brain but could not remember. Perhaps it was because Lily used it as a means of revenge for his part in the death of her father that Snape had not been in more pain. Even if it wasn't the real crucio, Snape did not want to feel it again nor did he ever want to experience the real thing. Feeling suddenly very drained and tired, Snape got up and left the classroom drawing stares and gawks from everyone in the room, including the professor.

After grabbing something he couldn't remember the taste of for lunch Snape went up to the hospital wing. He found Lily there, fast asleep and looking much more peaceful and healthy than she did last night. There was a slight puffiness to her eyes which gave her face some much needed colour. Snape felt drawn to Lily. He inched closer to her. His chest felt heavy, as did his eyes and he was on the verge of tears. He did not know exactly what was making him feel that way. Guilt for what happened to Mr. Evans, regret, love for Lily, pain upon seeing her in such a state, depression from the curse? He stopped bothering to think, he just inched closer to Lily. He felt something tugging at his heart, it seemed as though she had a string in her small hands which was attached to his heart. He reached out and grabbed her hand and held it for a few moments before leaning over her. Painfully and slowly he leaned his face closer to hers. His hair fell down around his face and as he got closer to her his hair created a curtain, blocking the sun from falling on either of their faces.

As though the sudden darkness frightened her, Lily's eyes flew open. Severus watched as her eyes became accustomed to the light and shifted his face into focus. Lily was perfectly still and made no sound she just looked back at him, her lips slightly parted, breathing slowly. Severus was a few inches away, just far enough so that he could see her entire face but nothing else. Slowly Lily blinked and she became aware of his hand holding hers, she squeezed his hand in response then let her hand become limp. Severus didn't let go. In the silence of the infirmary Snape could hear his breathing, and her breathing and his own heartbeat but not hers. Realizing this suddenly frightened him, he forgot that she was breathing and that her eyes were open, he thought only that her heart may not be beating. He broke eye contact with her and put his other hand over her chest. He pressed down slightly and he felt the rush of her blood underneath his hand and then the beat of her heart and sighed. He looked back at Lily who had closed her eyes and thrown her head back; she inhaled sharply and was now holding her breath. Realizing where his hand was and feeling the warm of her skin slowly seep into his flesh he drew his hand away quickly, but not before a certain newly arrived visitor noticed where his hand had been.

"Oi!"

Snape turned around towards the door of the infirmary so quickly that his hair whipped his face with quite some force. Potter. He was standing at the doorway of the infirmary, shocked, looking back and forth between Snape and Lily. After a few moments he recovered from his shock ad walked towards Lily's bed and stood in between her and Snape.

"What is your greasy ass doing here? Come to finish her off?"

Potter pulled out his wand and stared at Snape, who was looking at Lily. A sound came from Lily and she slowly opened her mouth. James lowered his wand and moved closer to Lily to hear what she was going to say.

"Potter….. I….. hate you."

Shocked, James stood up straight and said,

"What?"

Lily closed her eyes and continued, her voice becoming more breathy and fainter with each word.

"My potions….. you…. I know…. you took them…. right? Why?"

James looked uncomfortable, as though he didn't want to answer in front of Snape.

"Well, Lupin's been feeling a bit off lately. I'll replace them don't worry."

Lily sighed and continued again but with greater effort.

"Idiot… never… touch…. again. Now go."

Lily turned her head away from James to emphasize the point. Looking confused and disappointed James left a bouquet of flowers on Lily's night table and left, but not before giving Snape a look that said 'touch her and die'. Severus took it as a challenge.

As soon as he was certain James was gone, Snape turned back to Lily who was looking up at him.

"Sit."

Snape obeyed and sat on the same chair he had spent the night on. Lily swallowed before she parted her lips again to speak but hesitated. She looked so frail, as though it was taking some unnatural effort for her body to stay awake. Knowing it was useless to persuade her to sleep Snape sat and waited for her to gain her strength and speak but instead Lily began to cry. There was no sobbing, just two tears that rolled down the side of her face and onto her pillow.

"I'm…sorry… Sev."

Lily chocked out that last word as more tears streamed down her face. Snape sat for a moment to keep from crying as well then reached down and wiped the tears off of Lily's face.

"Shh… no Lily, don't. I deserved it. If I had known, it was never supposed to happen that way. I don't need you to apologize, I should apologize. Can you forgive me?"

Lily reached out her shaking hand and put it on Snape's hand and gave a weak squeeze.

"Come to the funeral…..Sunday."

Snape nodded yes and he saw on Lily's face that exhaustion was taking over. He got up to leave but Lily tugged at his hand.

"Tomorrow morning…. here….. talk… Lattimer."

Although surprised Snape understood so he nodded yes and Lily let go of his hand, falling asleep. As he reached the door of the infirmary Snape looked back at Lily. Severus could remember her falling asleep when they were children, he remembered the innocence and peace that washed over her face. Now as he looked at Lily the sun shining on her face did not make her glow with purity, it showed the tear streaked face of someone in pain. Even now, Lily's expression was slightly pulled together, like it was frozen in a moment of pain. That thought made Snape leave the infirmary suddenly and run back to his dormitory. He magically sealed his bed hangings, secluding himself and lay down on his back. He allowed two tears to fall from his eyes and across the sides of his face.

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Snape spent the remainder of the day finishing his homework and prepping a few ingredients in his dungeon storage room. Ancient Runes classes were still canceled as Professor Babbling was away making preparations for the funerals. On Friday morning Snape got up, washed, had breakfast and promptly made his way to the hospital wing to meet with Lily.

When he entered the infirmary, the first thing Snape noticed was that Lily looked much better. She was sitting up, eating a plate of toast and eggs. She also had some colour to her cheeks. When Lily heard the door open she smiled weakly and motioned towards the same hard wooden chair. When Snape sat down she put the plate away.

"Don't stop eating because of me."

"Oh, don't worry about it, I can't eat anymore anyways. I just can't handle any grease yet. Why wouldn't they give patients porridge or fruits or something?"

Snape agreed, porridge made the most sense. He saw a stack of books next Lily's half eaten breakfast. When Lily noticed him staring at them she said,

"Potter brought them up a few minutes ago. My homework. But that doesn't matter I can do my homework anytime, but we have to get started now."

Snape looked at Lily and waited for her to explain but she just started pulling papers and books out of a bag next to the bed.

"Get started on what?"

Without saying anything Lily handed Snape a paper. On it were, what looked like, blueprints of a building. They could have been the blueprints of clock tower but Severus couldn't be sure.

"What is this?"

"They are the blueprint of the Westminster Clock Tower, not the originals of course, drafted 20 years ago when the originals were moved to a museum. The tower needs repairs so they had to have a set of blueprints. Anyways, when the investigation into the damage done to the clock tower started, a set of architects made their own drawings of the tower,"

Lily handed Snape another sheet of paper.

"The drawings don't match up. There were slight alternations made, probably by magic because there is no evidence of work being done to the tower."

Snape looked over the paper and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. They were just lines. He wondered vaguely if he was holding them the right way up.

"Uhh, well what did they conclude?"

"They figured the copies that were made were wrong, or that the originals were, seeing as they were made so long ago and instruments weren't as accurate then. Anyways that isn't the point. Lattimer borrowed the blueprints of the tower the day he started working there. He also completely redesigned his office. He added stone statues of frogs, a pillar that doesn't actually hold anything up and even a Grecian inspired chair rail."

Snape was looking back and forth between the drawings and Lily.

"Alright…. so he has terrible taste and he knows nothing about architecture, what's your point?

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It's more than just that. No one has taste _this_ bad. I think Lattimer redesigned his office and altered the tower to hide something."

Snape thought about this for a moment.

"Well, how much damage was there to his office?"

"None. It took authorities 3 days to smash their way in. Apparently the key just wouldn't work."

Lily gave Severus a knowing look and they smiled at each other.

"Well it is curious. There had to be a reason why Lattimer would secure his office so well. But then again he could just be a paranoid wizard with awful taste in décor. I mean just look at Dumbledore!"

Lily giggled then said,

"You know I heard there was a wizard architect once. Became really famous too, he mashed together every muggle architectural era."

"Really? Well I've never heard of any wizard architect, although it isn't really my…. thing."

"Well after the buildings were built it turned out they didn't make any sense. Of course he knew nothing about building plans he just liked drawing pictures of ridiculous muggle homes with Sphinx lawn ornaments."

Both Lily and Snape laughed out loud. It had been so long since he and Lily had laughed so freely. Snape realized how much their friendship had suffered these past few years. Even with her father's funeral pending and despite her poor health Lily could still throw her head back and laugh as though she was standing at the top of the world. Her green eyes sparkled and for a moment their glances met. Snape felt his chest tightening. His face became serious again as he asked,

"Lily, are you certain you want me to attend the funeral?"

Lily pressed her lips together then said,

"Absolutely. You have to apologize to him yourself. I know you would never harm my father but your poor decision did contribute to his death and the deaths of several other people. I want it to be real to you. You weren't in the house."

"You want me to come to teach me a lesson."

"Exactly. I want you to see the consequences not read them in the paper. Don't misunderstand; I'm upset, very upset. At the same time, I know sitting in my room crying isn't going to stop anything. My grandfather told me there is a time and place for mourning. When the sky is falling down on you, you can only save yourself. During the siege everyone who tried to save someone ended up dead themselves."

"Lily, can you really compare this to the war?"

"Oh, not in terms of numbers no, but this is a war Severus. That's what a war is, two different sides with two different ideas and desires willing to use violence against each other to gain something. The magical world isn't that big a place, there are plenty of schools in England with twice as many students as Hogwarts. He has many followers and alliances with many magical creatures, as does Dumbledore and the ministry."

Severus sighed and leaned back.

"Is it really like that? Dumbledore's side or his side?"

"Maybe not but I know one thing, you Severus Snape, are not on my side and seeing as I'm not on his…."

"Life isn't so black and white Lily!"

"I was supposed to be there that night! I was supposed to be with my father! Is that what you would say if I was killed? Life isn't so black and white? "

Snape was shocked, Lily had never spoken this way before. There was a fire behind her eyes and her words burned hot. She continued,

"Life is that simple. There are people who can and people who can't, people who try and people who don't, people who lie to themselves and people who know the truth. I'm going to find out who killed my father and then I'm going to make them pay, then I'm going to find him and make him wish he was never born. And you,

She pointed at Severus

can either help me or get out of my way."

Severus was scared, for the first time in his life Lily scared him. Beyond the anger and sadness there was a desire for revenge inside Lily and Snape thought that, perhaps, killing Lily's father was the worst mistake he'd ever made. Severus conceded and said,

"What do you want to do?"

"Dumbledore seems certain that he was involved in Lattimer's disappearance and, as much as you hate him, Dumbledore is rarely wrong so we start there. Tomorrow morning we leave for London, I've already cleared it with the headmaster and Professor McGonagall."

Severus' head was reeling, Lily was going too fast and the feeling of shock and fear had not yet left him.

"Wait, what about Slughorn and you need to catch up on your homework and you're still ill and… well Lily what about the funeral don't you need to go home and... prepare?"

Lily took a deep breath.

"Slughorn won't know you're missing and he doesn't care either way, no offense I mean that as an insult to him not you. I'm fine. I can do my homework anytime and no I don't want to go home. My mother and Petunia are taking care of everything."

"I don't know, this could all be a huge waste of time, there isn't really any evidence that he was trying to get into Lattimer's office. Don't you think you're just avoiding dealing with what happened to your father?"

"YES!"

Lily yelled

"Yes! That's exactly it, because I think I'll go crazy if I think about it, because thinking about it makes me hate you. I want to keep busy with something. Why…. Why can't I?"

Startled, Snape agreed to meet Lily early tomorrow morning and then left the infirmary as Madam Pomfry came out of her office to administer Lily's medicine.

Once Snape reached his room he lay on his bed and held his head in his hands. Ever since Lily cursed him he hadn't been himself. His emotions and mind were muddled; he didn't feel completely in control of himself. Frustrated and confused Snape decided to stop thinking about Lily's sudden change in attitude and tried to forget the guilt that was beginning to creep into his consciousness. He pulled out the blueprints and architectural magic books Lily had given him to study. After staring at them for 20 minutes and getting nowhere Snape decided that he would never become an architect, also that when he built himself a house he would have just walls and windows, simple. Why anyone would want a pig with wings over their front door, he just couldn't understand.

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Author's Note: I'm getting some ideas about Lily's attitude from the fact that she faced Voldemort 3 times before being killed. I think Lily would have been brave and wanted revenge for the death of her father the same way Harry did. Also the title of this chapter is an allusion to the main character of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, who was an architect.


	11. These Horrors are Just the Night Guards

Chapter 11: These Horrors are Just the Night Guards

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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The sky was still dark so Severus had no hint as to what the weather might be like but decided to shrink an umbrella just in case, it was London after all. As he snuck out of his room Snape wondered vaguely if they were going to be left to their own devices or if the Headmaster would see them off as they were technically still underage. He received his answer shortly as both Professor McGonagall and Lily were waiting for him in the Entrance Hall.

"Good Morning Mr. Snape. Now before you and Miss Evans leave I must remind you that you are still underage and not allowed to use magic outside the school, that said, the clock tower is more or less deserted as no one has been allowed in since the 'accident' so you may use magic within the clock tower. Professor Dumbledore has cleared this with the Ministry. I have given Lily a copy of emergency contacts within the ministry and here at Hogwarts should you required assistance. Now if you are both ready please take hold of this pail."

The pail McGonagall was referring to was a red and deformed bucket made of plastic. Snape felt this was a great object for a portkey but Lily was just eyeing it skeptically as though it was dirty.

"Hold tight Lily, it's easier to control your landing."

Lily nodded and grasped the bucket more tightly but her hands started to tremble. Noticing this Snape moved over next to Lily and wrapped an arm around her holding her up.

"Are you certain you're up for this, we could go tomorrow or another day? You should rest."

Snape whispered, so that McGonagall wouldn't hear but Lily replied,

"No Sev, the funeral is tomorrow and then there's Quidditch and then the hunt and then the tower will be opened to the public again, besides it took forever to get all the necessary permissions for this. I'll be fine."

There wasn't any time for further discussion as the Professor began counting down the seconds to when the portkey would activate. Snape held on tightly to both the red pail and Lily.

"3….2…1"

The portkey activated and Professor McGonagall spun out of Snape's sight. He felt a tug from behind his bellybutton and waited until he could see the ground and began walking on what seemed like thin air. When Lily saw this she copied him and they both landed in a dark alley. Because she didn't know what she was doing Lily landed with some force and was only able to keep from falling because Snape was holding on to her. Once they landed and steadied themselves, Lily seemed to be aware of Snape's arm around her. Severus quickly let go and looked around before swiftly walking out of the alleyway.

Once out on the street, they both looked around trying to gather their bearings. They seemed to be a short way off the center of London. Despite the early hour there were several people out on the street. Some were clearly still drunk after a night full of festivities while others were starting off to work in uniforms.

Lily was looking at a map and after a minute pointed to the right and said,

"This way."

Snape hurried to catch up to her and followed. As they were walking silently side by side Snape took the time to look at Lily. She was wearing dark jeans which flared out at the bottom and a black wool sweater which hugged her body. Noticing that he was looking at her, Lily also looked Snape up and down. Suddenly aware of his torn pants and overly large pullover, Snape turned away from Lily who looked away and checked the map again.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Snape asked,

"Why are we doing this anyways? Can't Dumbledore go and see if anything is weird in there. He'll be able to figure out if Lattimer did anything to his office much faster and accurately than we could."

After giving him an annoyed look Lily said,

"Look if you don't want to be here you shouldn't have come. Dumbledore obviously would have done it himself if he could but it isn't that simple. First of all Dumbledore reckons he's being followed, he's worried if someone notices that he is snooping around the clock tower that they'll know that Dumbledore knows there's something fishy. Second of all the Ministry investigated the clock tower and deemed nothing strange so if he were to investigate it would look like he didn't trust the Ministry, which he doesn't but it's better not to advertise that. The headmaster has arranged it that we are "sightseeing" so it doesn't seem as weird. Now hurry up we are almost there."

And so they were, Snape could see the clock tower rising above the other building ahead of them. Once they reached the clock tower, they stealthily made their way inside past the muggle guards and sealed the door shut behind them.

"Over here, the office is down below."

Snape followed Lily down a short hall and to a door. There were stairs leading into a dimly lit hall that looked akin to the dungeon corridors.

As soon as he stepped into the corridor of the lower level, Severus could feel the presence of magic. Lily hurried ahead to a door with the words 'keeper of the clock' written on it. Snape felt something strange as he was standing in front of the door, waiting for Lily to open it, the sensation made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. However, before he could act on his instinct Lily had opened the door to Lattimer's office.

As the wooden door creaked open Lily and Severus were met with a strange but not unfamiliar sight. The office was small and stuffed full of various strange knickknacks. There was hardly a stretch of stone wall that was empty. There were many shelves filled with books and figurines, as well as scale models of several clock towers including the one they were currently in. Where there were no shelves there were pictures, obviously magical as the occupants were whispering to each other and moving between different pictures, trying to get a good look at the new arrivals. Right in the center of the room was a large desk with stacks of paper and parchment on the surface. Some stacks were so high they almost reached the hanging light bulb that served as the only source of light, giving the room a dreary and eerie feel.

Both Lily and Severus lit their wands and walked in, squeezing themselves between a bookshelf and the large desk. Lily began looking through the stacks of paper. Knowing she was much better at looking through large quantities of information than he was, Snape left Lily to it and walked around the other side of the desk, as there was only enough room for one person at a time. He began observing the different knickknacks and looking through the book titles. Most of them seemed like harmless muggle books about history and engineering but others were only thinly disguised wizarding books. After dispelling a few of them Snape began to notice a pattern in the kinds of books Lattimer kept in his office. Most of them involved advanced code-breaking and just by flipping through a few of them Snape could tell they were being used very often. Beyond the wear of the pages, Snape discovered that Lattimer also wrote in his books, and that he had written so much in one copy of _Objects Most Unspoken_ that he had to make a copy. After about half an hour of looking through the books in silence, Snape looked over his shoulder at Lily, who was still deep in concentration and flipping through another large pile of papers, stopping to make copies every now and then.

Turning back to the bookshelf Snape noticed that many of the people in Lattimer's pictures were staring at him. Figuring it was worth a try Snape inched his way towards one of the paintings where a group of goldsmiths were huddled together in a whispered conversation with three old women from an adjacent painting. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice Snape creeping up towards them.

"Oh Enya killing is your solution for everything. Deina what do you think?"

A stubby old man with red hair who looked like the head goldsmith was addressing one of the old women after turning away from the shortest of the three old women.

"Well I say we tell him that someone is snooping around. Lattimer wasn't my master, don't know why I should have any sort of loyalty towards him. Slytherin has just as much claim to it as Ravenclaw as far as I'm concerned."

The leader of the goldsmiths considered what the old women said for a few moments with a troubled look on his face.

"No that won't do. No one ever liked Slytherin, but then again she was always going head to head with Ravenclaw too. Well, then I say it's best that we stay out of it."

When two of the old women made disappointed faces the stubby goldsmith said,

"Oh I know how much you two like to stir up trouble and all but I'd rather not be chucked into a fire thank you very much."

Just as the man finished saying this the third old women who was so thin and frail she looked like she might float away at any moment, turned and saw Snape standing next to the painting, listening to them.

"I don't mean to alarm anyone,"

The thin old lady started saying but was interrupted by the shortest old woman,

"Oh Pemphreda that's all you do so..."

But she stopped short upon seeing Snape staring at her. The thin old woman rolled her eyes and said,

"Like I was saying. Seems this one here was listening to us the whole time. Well laddy boy if you think we're gunna tell you where it's at your mad see, it's just a stupid nickname! I ain't easily fooled!"

Snape furrowed his brow, he wasn't sure what the women was talking about. Attempting to sound like he didn't care Severus replied,

"Where what is?"

The thin woman was about to open her mouth to retort then stopped dead, finally understanding what Snape had asked. The two other women were looking at her angrily.

"It's just a stupid nickname eh? You old fool you! Why don't you just tell everyone, yell it out from the top of the tower then? It's why everyone laughs at us! Some guardians we are. All your fault!"

Snape ignored the bickering women and turned to the half a dozen goldsmiths who were eyeing him suspiciously.

"What are they guarding?"

The men did not answer, they just huddled closer together and looked fearful but whether it was fear of him or of the three women, Snape was not sure.

The short old women named Enya ran in between the group of goldsmiths and Snape and pointed her tiny finger up at him.

"Now you listen good, we liked Lattimer, never bothered us none and helped us do our job, so don't think you can threaten us! You can try burn up this picture but you can't burn our picture, it's not like the others so we can all just hide in there if need be. So you two can just go back to your 'Dark Lord' and tell him not to bother us anymore!"

When Snape heard the woman use the term 'Dark Lord' he knew that he had been here and that he had tried to get information for these old women. Looking over his shoulder to make sure Lily hadn't heard anything Snape leaned in close to the painting and whispered,

"Look I'm not going to harm you, I have no intention of that. My friend and I are here because we want to know what happened to George Lattimer. Our headmaster from Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, sent us to investigate. Would you happen to know where he is or what happened to him?"

When Severus mentioned Dumbledore's name one of the goldsmiths detached himself from the pack and walked next to Enya. With a curious and excited expression he addressed Severus,

"Albus sent you? He said he would, send someone that is. Thank goodness I was starting to believe what that… thing…. said."

"What thing?"

The other goldsmiths had stopped trembling and were listening with interest but the old women seemed bored and returned back to their painting.

"Well this is how it happened. Well I guess I should go back a bit. Lattimer worked here for a long time, most of us paintings were already here, not in the office but in the tower. Georgie brought us all together so we could keep each other company and watch over his office. Now he did a good job but well he was doing other work, you know not just scrubbing the stairs and balancing the pendulum. He was looking for something, now don't ask me what cause I can't tell you but see I could never figure out why he was looking for it. It's nice and all but not of much use and Georgie didn't seem like no greedy lad. Well those old hags, they didn't live here, Georgie brought them from somewheres in Europe when he was travelling. Well they were always whispering to each other about something. Now the day before he disappeared, Georgie was all happy and such and they talked for hours. Seems like Georgie found what he was looking for and he asked me if it was the real one and I says it was cause I'd know it cause I made it right?"

Snape interrupted him.

"So he was looking for something made of gold that was hidden in the tower."

The goldsmith opened his mouth and ten closed it a few times, clearly in shock. At this point the head goldsmith took over.

"Look here, this is secret. All our lives we kept our secret, anyways that's not what is important. Thing is Lattimer checked with the old hags before checking with us if it was the real thing, means he wasn't interested in the gold. There's something else going on with that… thing he found. Well wouldn't you know the next day there's some commotion at the top of the tower and then some, well I guess it was a man, come in here asking us questions about what Lattimer found and threatening to burn our painting with some hell fire. We ain't seen Georgie boy since."

After he said this the head goldsmith stopped talking and was staring at something next Severus. When he turned his head slightly he saw that Lily was right behind him. Severus tensed up immediately. Because there was so little room in between the shelf and desk, Lily was almost pressed up against him and he could feel her breath. Unsure how long she had been standing there and what she had heard Snape felt it was best to play dumb. The next person to speak was Lily.

"So this… man what did he look like?"

The head goldsmith was wringing his hands.

"Well I can't say exactly, he was wearing this cloak and it had a hood. Couldn't really see his face but he had a weird voice and he seemed pretty tall but it's hard to tell."

Lily seemed disappointed with this bit of information.

"Hum, well you said there was a commotion at the top of the tower. What happened?"

"I'm not too sure, Archington said something was happening upstairs and went back to check but he never returned to tell us what happened. Archington and his painting disappeared along with George."

Obviously displeased with learning so little from the painting, Lily turned to Snape.

"Well I copied anything that seemed pertinent. I say our best bet is to go upstairs and see if we find anything there. Whatever he was looking for was probably up there, it wasn't in this office anyways from what they said."

Snape nodded and took note of the fact that Lily had probably heard most of his conversation with the people in the paintings. Severus was certain the man underneath the cloak was him and he felt that Lily suspected this as well. Dumbledore probably also suspected this and it is likely he told his suspicions to Lily. Either way he had to try to keep Lily as far from his radar as possible. He kept Lily hidden from view, in case he came back and asked questions about who had been here. A female Hogwarts student with green eyes and red hair would not be difficult to find.

As they stepped out of the office Severus felt a familiar tingling sensation, he vaguely wondered how muggles who walked around here could miss it. Then again, Snape thought, they would probably just mistake the feeling for being afraid. Remembering how much more sensitive Lily was with magic he asked,

"Do you feel that? Lattimer didn't even bother to hide the magic down here."

"Huh, what are you talking about? That's just a draft. Anyways, he didn't have to hide it since most of the tourists are taken down the other hall where the old jail cells are, more interesting."

Snape opened his mouth to ask how in the world she could mistake a surge of magic for a draft but decided it was better not to upset her. He silently followed Lily up the winding staircase all the way to the top of the tower, it took them a little while and they were both slightly out of breath when they reached the landing.

The clock mechanism room was large and impressive. Snape remember how long ago the clock was built and was surprised at the engineering skills of the muggles. On their right was one of the clock's faces. The glass was clean and made it possible to see out over London. The sun was well up now and the hands of the clock read 10:11. Slightly shocked at how much time had passed already Snape said,

"We should start looking around, we have to be back before dinner at 6 and our portkey is going to be in the alley, it leaves at 5:45 so we have to leave here before 5."

"Well that means we have almost 7 hours, it should be plenty of time."

"I would think so too but we just spent 3 and a half hours search a 4 by 4 meter room, this place could take us days."

Snape was looking up at the high ceilings of the clock mechanism room. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly before saying,

"Fine, you start at one end of the room and I'll start at the other. We'll search for any trace of magic or anything indicating a struggle."

Snape nodded and they both got to work. There was silence except for the clicking of their wooden wands on pieces of stone wall every now and then.

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It was nearly 1 pm when Lily said,

"Let's take a break for lunch."

Snape rubbed his arms, which were weary form tapping every inch of the room and walked over to Lily in the center of the platform.

The last 2 hours had brought no new information or clues. Anything within immediate reach had been searched, all that was left was the actual clock mechanism, something Lily was weary of tampering with, should they do any sort of damage.

The clock rang in 1 pm and both Lily and Snape put their hands over their ears almost instinctively. Lily pulled a red and white plaid sheet out of her bag and spread it out on the stone floor. As Snape sat down on it he noticed it was cushioned and warm. The thinness of the sheet told Severus that Lily had used magic to make it more comfortable. After she sat down Lily began pulling a large variety of foods from her tiny backpack: a whole chicken, three different types of salad, roast potatoes, an entire loaf of bread, 6 bottles of butter beer, a jug of water, a tea pot, a large pile of cutlery, plates and two different desserts. It looked like a picnic for a large family. Snape looked at Lily questioningly.

"Well I assumed you didn't have breakfast so you'd be hungry and somehow the house elves found out I was sick and they loaded my bag up with everything within reach. You know how they are."

Laughing to himself Severus remembered how much food the elves gave him when he was younger, it seemed like they took thinness to be a disease. Whenever Snape went to the kitchens and the elves took one look at his bony arms, they would give him as much food as he could physically carry.

Severus suddenly found he was very hungry and began loading his plate with a little bit of everything. After 10 minutes of eating, Snape noticed that Lily had hardly touched her food.

"Is everything alright? Are you still not feeling well?"

Lily smiled weakly and then said.

"Oh I'm fine, I just can't really eat like I used to yet."

Putting his plate down and taking on a serious tone Snape asked,

"Lily, what happened to you?"

"I… I… just. Well when I got back to my room after… I…. when we… well I was worn out and I was going to take something but Potter stole them all."

Lily took a deep breath before continuing,

"I guess I'm still in shock is all…so… yeah."

Lily let the words sort of trail and then turned away from Snape and stuffed her mouth with potatoes. Although he was still concerned and curious, Snape decided it was best not to push the subject right then.

When they had finished eating, Lily and Severus cleaned up and tried to work out how they would tackle the investigation of the actual clock mechanisms and bells. Snape looked around and said,

"I think we should stick to the maintenance walkways since we know they are stable. I also think we should stick together, for all we know all these parts of the clock could be very rusted and ready to fall apart."

Lily agreed and they started walking within the mechanisms along the walkways that Lattimer would have used just a few months ago. As they went they tapped the gears and various parts looking for any clues. As they were getting closer to the main bell, from where the name 'Big Ben' originated, Snape again felt the presence of magic, this time it seemed that Lily felt it too as they gave each other knowing looks. They approached the large bell carefully. The narrow walkway opened up into a larger room with stairs and fencing around the bells. The magic was clearly coming from the largest and lowest. They descended a flight of stairs and were right underneath the bell, looking up into it. The 2 o'clock bell rang not long ago so they knew they had at least 45 minutes before the bell rang again and it certainly would not be a good idea to be standing right there when it did. Just then the smaller bells rang, telling Lily and Snape that it was quarter past. After regaining their hearing Lily and Snape lit their wands to get a better look at the inside of the bell. There was definitely something at the very center of the bell.

After a few minutes of discussion and a few failed attempts, Snape managed to transfigure Lily's backpack into a ladder. It was decided that Snape would climb up and see what was up there and Lily would hold the ladder in place. They leaned the ladder on the actual bell instead of the clapper and Snape climbed up. When he looked down Snape could see Lily examining the end of the clapper. He couldn't believe that Lily would allow herself to be so easily distracted at a time like this, then again if he fell and died she probably wouldn't care anyways.

Snape was almost at the top and he could see a sphere of some sort stuck to the very top of the bell, nestled in the gap the hook for the clapper left. As he pointed his lit wand towards the sphere he saw that it was open and that it was not a perfect circle but that there were many flats sides with something engraved on each side. He reached out to see if he could pull it out of the gap but was blinded by Lily's wand which was now pointing straight up. The ladder wobbled and his hand touched the sphere. The next thing he knew the ladder fell from under his feet and he was falling, endlessly falling.


	12. Where there are Shadows, there are

Chapter 12: Where there are Shadows, There are Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: a clapper is the part of a bell that hits the inside of the bell in order to produce a sound.

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Snape opened his eyes and blinked several times but his vision was blurry. He heard a sound to his right and turned his head only to see a hazy circle of red swimming in front of him. Then all of a sudden he felt a slight pressure behind his eyes and his vision was clear. Snape could now see Madam Pomfrey and Lily hovering over him with concerned looks.

"Sev, can you see me?"

"Yeah, why, what happened?"

Snape answered as he stretched and yawned. Both women looked relieved and Madam Pomfrey rushed over to her office without saying anything else.

"You collapsed. I barely had time to levitate you before you hit the ground. Do you remember what happened?"

Snape rubbed his temples with his hands and tried to remember what happened to him. He could remember setting up the ladder and climbing up it but, what happened after that?

"I'm not sure, I don't think I fell. Did I?"

"I don't think so Sev, you were out cold, it's nearly midnight now."

Snape looked around the infirmary and saw that the night sky beyond the windows was indeed pitch black. He turned back to Lily and tried to figure out what could have happened to him. He saw Lily staring at him with concern so he smiled widely and asked,

"Are you alright? You weren't feeling well and then you had to take care of me. You should get some sleep, tomorrow is, well an important day."

Lily smiled a sad smile back at him and nodded. She got up and walked over to the bed next to Snape's and got underneath the covers. Before Snape had time to ask what Lily was doing Mrs. Pomfrey came out of her office with many different bottles in her arms. She set half of them down on the night table next to Lily's bed and half on Snape's. After they had both taken their medicine and Mrs. Pomfrey had retired to her office, Severus turned onto his side and looked at Lily.

"Are you still so ill that you need to be in the infirmary? You shouldn't have strained yourself to do the investigation this morning Lily."

"Oh I'm fine, I'm just here for observation and so Madam Pomfrey can administer the medicine. Apparently one of the potions needs a spell to go along with it when I swallow it. Anyways I'm fine, the question is… are you?"

Severus thought that was a good question. His head hurt and he was sore but other than that he seemed fine. The problem was inside his mind. He couldn't seem to remember what happened.

"Did Pomfrey tell you what happened to me? You asked me if I could see you when I woke up and I was having trouble seeing. Did she say something?"

Lily opened her mouth to respond but hesitated. She leaned her head closer to Snape's bed and Severus followed suit. After looking over at Madam Pomfrey's door to make certain she was asleep Lily whispered,

"Well when you fell off the ladder and I levitated you down to the floor your eyes were still open for a few seconds and well, there was something wrong with them."

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes, the entire eye, pupil, iris, everything was black. You looked really scary. Then you passed out. I was going to tell Madam Pomfrey about it but she seemed to know what was wrong so I didn't want to worry Professor Dumbledore."

"Wait, what? The headmaster was here?"

"Yeah. I called him when you fainted. He gave me an emergency contact. He kept asking me questions about what you touched but I told him you didn't touch anything. Or I don't know, did you touch something?"

It was at that moment that Snape remembered the clear sphere-like object stuck to the top of the bell.

"The sphere! That's the last thing I remember touching. Did you get it?"

"Sev, what are you talking about, there was nothing there."

"Sure there was, don't you remember? That's the reason I climbed up there in the first place. Just before I fell you were looking at something and then you yelled something at me. It was almost like you knew something bad was going to happen."

Lily stared back at Snape wide-eyed and confused. She blinked a few times and then furrowed her brow as if she was deep in concentration. After a full minute of silence Lily said,

"No, I don't remember saying anything. I might have screamed after you fell. I don't remember reading or seeing anything out of the ordinary."

Snape wondered if his memory was foggy. He was so certain that there was something up there, could he have imagined it or hallucinated?

"Lily, could your memory have been affected as well?"

"By what? You fell down the ladder. What did you do up there anyways?"

Snape opened his mouth but he never got to answer because the door of the infirmary burst opened and Professor Dumbledore came sweeping in looking anxious. He rushed over to Snape bedside and stood over him. He gave Lily a quick glace and slightly softened his expression before addressing Severus,

"Well I'm glad to see you've woken up. Considering the fact that Poppy is in her office means you're out of danger. Good, good."

Dumbledore glanced at Lily once more before continuing.

"I wanted to check in on the both of you once I returned. So everyone is fine yes, good. Well you must both be exhausted after what happened today and tomorrow, well you'll be needing your rest for tomorrow so I shall bid you goodnight."

The headmaster turned and started walking to the door but as he neared the door he slightly turned his body back towards Snape and Lily and said,

"Oh and Mr. Snape if you could so kindly come and see me after you return to Hogwarts tomorrow, have a few things I wish to discuss with you."

Snape could see exactly what Dumbledore had wanted. He had come here hoping Lily would be asleep, that way he could question Severus about what happened that morning and his involvement in the whole ordeal.

"Absolutely sir, as soon as we get back."

"Excellent."

With that Dumbledore left the infirmary without another word or backward glance. When he was gone Snape turned back to Lily who was eyeing him suspiciously.

"What?"

"What was all that about. What do you and Dumbledore have to talk about?"

Snape turned and laid on his back, with his hands under his head. He looked up at the ceiling to avoid Lily's eyes.

"I'm not sure, I guess he wants to know what happened."

"Yeah, but why does he want to see you alone? Why doesn't he ask us when we are together?"

"You'll have to ask him."

Snape turned back again to face Lily and asked,

"Are you mad that he wants to see me? I mean after all, just a few weeks ago it was you who was seeing the headmaster, having private meetings about me. I bet that made you feel pretty special. Huh? Well I guess he's more interested in what I know now."

"Well I guess you would know more about what You-Know-Who is doing, of course Professor Dumbledore would be interested."

Lily turned away from Severus and crossed her arms. This thoroughly annoyed Snape.

"Why would it have anything to do with him? Anyways if you can't get past something like this how to you expect to figure out what happened to Lattimer? Dumbledore already asked you what you knew so now he wants to talk to me. That's it. End of story."

Instead of retorting Lily just turned further away from Snape so he did the same. As they were lying back to back, Snape could feel the angry tension building. It was almost unbearable. Severus regretted making Lily angry the night before her father's funeral but at the same time he felt like Lily was keeping something from him. His memory was foggy but he was certain that he had gone up the ladder and found a clear sphere. He also remembered Lily flashing her light up at him and yelling something at him. He was so certain. Had his memory been altered, had Lily's, had both their memories been addled or worse, was Lily lying to him? The only way he could be sure would be to go back. As he tried to figure out how he would get the chance to go back the sun began creeping up over the horizon. When Madam Pomfrey woke them for breakfast Snape had a plan which, with a little luck, would work.

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Snape, Lily and half of the 6th year Gryffindors were standing in Professor McGonagall's office and the sun was already fairly high in the sky.

After a painfully long breakfast during which neither Snape nor Lily ate a thing, Severus went back to his room to change. Regulus Black came into Snape's dormitory as Snape was brushing his hair and asked,

"So it's true that muggles wear all black to funerals. How depressing! A muggle is dead, big deal."

Snape just rolled his eyes and ignored him

"I can't believe you're so thick-skinned Sevvie. You help in the poor old man's death and now you're going to his funeral like you belong there. Seems almost disrespectful. "

Snape walked towards the door and only said,

"Don't call me Sevvie."

He wouldn't let Black get a rise out of him.

Because Lily was well liked and had many friends, it seemed natural that so many of her classmates would go to her father's funeral, especially when his death was the result of a wizard. It was extremely awkward for Snape to stand there waiting for Professor McGonagall with Lupin, Pettigrew, Black and Potter, particularly because the latter two kept giving Snape dark looks and pointing to their wands. Lily seemed completely unaware of any of this. She was standing closest to the fireplace with Alice and Mary on either side. She looked more fragile than she did when she first became ill.

When McGonagall finally arrived, Snape let out a sigh of relief. Mary went first then Lily and then Alice. When all the girls were gone Potter stepped towards the fireplace. Snape let him go ahead; there was no point in fighting over something like that. Snape was the last one to leave. As he stepped towards the fireplace Professor McGonagall put her hand on Snape's shoulder to stop him.

"One minute Mr. Snape, I have something to tell you. Now despite the fact that you will be off school boundaries I expect you to behave as you would in my presence. I have said the same thing to Mr. Potter and Mr. Black. I do not wish anything to make this day more distressing for Miss Evans. Am I clear?"

Snape nodded and then Professor McGonagall allowed him to take a handful of Floo Powder. As he stepped over the threshold of the fireplace into the parlor of the Evans house Snape did his best to look solemn and not uncomfortable. He could see Potter standing next to Lily, shaking Mrs. Evans' hand. Snape was glad that Potter had enough sense not to make a stupid joke right now. As he got closer he could hear the conversation between Potter and Mrs. Evans,

"… so sorry we had to meet on these terms. Just terrible. It's because of tragedies like these that I know becoming an Auror is my calling. Oh it's like a wizard police officer."

It was hard to tell whether Lily and Mrs. Evans were actually listening to anything Potter was saying. They both had the same somber expression on their faces.

"Ah, Severus! I'm so glad you're here!"

When Mrs. Evans saw Severus she rushed over, apparently unaware that Potter was still talking to her. Lily remained in the same place, standing still and looking at the floor.

"Oh, Severus, how could this happen. I hardly saw you at all the entire summer and you didn't see dear Harold either, well of course Lily told us how busy you were. But who would have thought Harold would leave us like this."

Mrs. Evans was sniffling throughout and held Snape with one of her arms, squeezing him progressively tighter.

"Come on Severus, I'll take you to say goodbye."

Lily appeared beside Mrs. Evans and Snape and grabbed Severus by the arm and began leading him towards the back. Mrs. Evans nodded and sniffed again before walking towards some other guests. Potter was standing a little way off staring at Lily and Snape's joined arms with an irritated expression.

As they walked out the backdoor Snape saw a simple wooden coffin lying on a stone alter. The coffin was closed and a picture of Mr. Evans was placed in front of the coffin.

"Go on, whatever you need to say to my father, do it now before the funeral starts."

Lily stood on the back steps and let Snape go ahead. When he reached the coffin, Snape put one hand down on the wood and then looked back at Lily who nodded encouragingly.

_Hello, Mr. Evans. It's Severus, you know the one that hangs around Lily all the time. Or at least I did until last summer. Lily and I had a bit of a falling out. I called her a bad name. But I didn't mean to, I swear, it's just that the situation was complicated, stupid Potter. Anyways, I. I'm not sure how to say this…_

Snape took a breath before continuing. He wasn't sure if Mr. Evans could hear him but he felt as though he should let him knows the truth, just in case Mr. Evans could hear what he was thinking.

_I was going to use this time to apologize to you for my part in your death, but I have something really important to ask you. What should I do? I feel trapped. On one hand there is Voldemort,__do you even know who that is? He is powerful and would give me the respect I deserve, something I've never gotten from anyone at Hogwarts or at home and on the other hand is Lily who wants to do the right thing but is way in over her head. I want to protect Lily more than anything but I just don't trust Dumbledore. I didn't know what would happen the night my friends went out. I didn't know they were going to kill anyone, in fact, I'm not sure if they were the ones who killed you and the rest of that family or if Voldemort came out and did it himself. I'm only as sure of Voldemort's wrong-doings as I am of Dumbledore's. I feel as though I'm trying to choose the lesser evil._

As he thought this Snape saw a butterfly pass by and land on a flower. The flower was next to a stone path that Snape had not noticed before. Lily, who had walked to stand next to Snape as he was deep in thought, saw where he was looking and said,

"My dad started building that flagstone path this summer. We made a little path in the grass towards the shed from walking back and forth all these years and there was one that was made when the house was built but it went the wrong way. My dad decided to take the flagstone from the path that was made by the builders and lay it over the path we made. He never got to finish though."

Snape looked at Lily and then at the coffin and wondered if Mr. Evans was trying to tell him something. Snape heard steps rush towards him from behind and turned around to see Petunia standing right in front of him. She looked angry.

"How dare you come here? If it's for the free food I'll pack some and you can go eat it on the street like the animal you are!"

Snape was shocked and didn't say anything so Lily decided to intervene.

"Petunia, how can you say that? Snape's been my friend since we were little, he has just as much a right as anyone to be here. I don't care how you feel but you can't do this during dad's funeral!"

"Please, how can you still stick up for him Lily? Even all your freak school friends are talking about it. He helped kill dad! It's his fault! I knew the minute I set eyes on him that he would ruin our family and you're defending him?"

Petunia was flush with anger. She slapped Lily and then spat in Snape's face before turning and rushing back into the house. Both Lily and Snape stood still in shock. Lily was holding her check where Petunia had slapped her and Snape was wiping his face. After a few minutes Lily spoke,

"I'm so sorry about that Severus, she's gone a bit mental. She's just emotional about everything."

Snape turned and looked at Lily and her red cheek.

"But she's right isn't she?"

Lily shook her head,

"You may have done a lot of things wrong Severus but I don't think you're responsible for my father's death, even indirectly. You helped heal your friends after the fact, I don't think anything would have been different if you weren't involved."

Snape wasn't sure what to say but he was spared from having to say anything because Mrs. Evans popped her head out the door to inform Lily that the hearse would be moving the coffin to the cemetery for the funeral.

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The mourners made their way to the cemetery for the funeral. Snape barely saw Lily after that and avoided Petunia, which wasn't particularly difficult. When he flooed back Snape went directly to the headmaster's office. He had a few questions for the dear professor.

The gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office moved as soon as Snape arrived, it seemed Dumbledore was waiting for him. As soon as Snape knocked the door flew open and Dumbledore welcomed him inside.

"Ah Mr. Snape, I was expecting you, so glad you could come. How was the funeral, I expect everything went as well as it could?"

"Yes, it was a lovely service. I noticed neither you nor Professor McGonagall were present."

"Well we cannot attend the funerals of every relative of every student in the school."

"Well considering the circumstances, I thought perhaps you would."

"Really, and what circumstances are those Mr. Snape?"

"Well, Mr. Evans was killed by a wizard, wasn't he?"

"Ah, so he was."

"Don't you feel responsible?"

When Severus asked this, Dumbledore's expression changed.

"No, is there a reason I should feel responsible?"

"Well you aren't an auror, but don't you think it's your responsibility to stop him? I suppose everyone expects you to after the battle with Grindelwald."

"Yes, people do expect that of me but that does not mean I am responsible for the defeat of the wizard known as Lord Voldemort, at least not on my own. Which brings me to the reason I asked you here. You and Miss Evans searched the bell tower and Mr. Lattimer's office thoroughly I presume, but you found nothing?"

"No, Sir, I guess not."

"You guess?"

"I thought we found something but it seems I'm mistaken."

"What did you think you found?"

"I'm not certain; in fact I may have imagined the entire thing. After speaking with Lily it seems that way."

Dumbledore was looking at him with no expression but Snape felt that Dumbledore wanted to smile.

"That reminds me, I forgot a book in the tower. I left it in the hall during lunch and I suppose Lily didn't know as she did not grab it before returning to school. Of course with me fainting she must have forgotten. Is there any way I can return to get the book?"

Dumbledore watched him for a moment before nodding his head and saying,

"Of course."

The headmaster grabbed a cracked picture frame from one of his desk drawers and placed it on the desk.

"I will send you back with this portkey. I will set the return for 15 minutes after you arrived, you shouldn't need more time to get your book."

Snape nodded his head and said,

"I understand."

Dumbledore nodded and Snape grabbed onto the portkey. In a few moments he felt a familiar tug behind his bellybutton and he landed at the top of the tower beside the bell mechanism. He could hear the last ring of the quarter after the hour bell. He rushed down the narrow path that led to the main bell and transfigured his jacket into a ladder and quickly climbed up it. Even before he lit his wand he knew the sphere wasn't there. The rush of excitement and adrenaline was leaving him quickly and he was left with nothing but disappointment. As he climbed down the ladder he couldn't help but think that maybe he had imagined it all. When he reached the bottom of the ladder he tapped it and it turned back into his suit jacket. He sat down at the bottom of the bell with the picture frame in his hand, waiting for the 15 minutes to pass. Snape was bored and was looking around at the bells to pass the time. Nothing inside the room looked any different. He looked straight up above him and saw the clapper of the bell. Suddenly he remembered that Lily was looking at the clapper and had said something to him before he fell, if that was indeed what happened. Filled with a new rush of excitement Snape lit his wand and got onto his feet to get a better look at the bottom end of the clapper. Staring back at him was a small S, no... not an S, but a snake. The crest of Slytherin. That's what Lily saw, that's why she warned him. Before he could take a closer look, the picture frame in his hand vibrated and he felt that pull behind his bellybutton again. As he was whipped back to Hogwarts and the bells of the tower chimed in half past the hour Snape could only ask himself one question: did Lily lie or did he find them in that tower?


	13. The Sand is Softer on the Other Shore

Chapter 13: The Sand is Softer on the Other Shore

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: having discovered that my profile is being underused I have decided to post updates on my profile. From now on author's notes will be used solely to explain plot and story issues. Without further ado, chapter 13! Please Enjoy and Review!

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When Severus landed back in the headmaster's office he had trouble focusing. Giving Dumbledore the most coherent excuse he could, Snape practically ran out of the office and up the stairs. He ran blindly, not knowing where he was going. He stopped only when his lungs protested and he began to cough. He dropped onto the floor and knelt. Holding the stair banister for support Snape closed his eyes and tried to think.

_Why would Lily lie to me? What could she possibly have to hide? What really happened? What should I do now? Was Voldemort there? No, he would have killed us. Perhaps Lily has been imperused? _

Snape sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration. Everything was making less and less sense. Snape was quite certain that Lily and Dumbledore were no longer meeting as regularly as before and that she had stopped taking his orders, but he never considered why. Nothing he knew about Lily made him believe that she would be manipulating him. She didn't seem capable of it.

_She must not trust me._

Slowly and shakily, Snape stood with the help of the banister. He walked out of the stairwell and into a hallway. He tried to gather his bearings but he didn't recognize any particular thing in the hallway. It was only when he got to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy that Severus realized he was all the way on the seventh floor. Both frustrated and exhausted Snape flung his hair out of his face and began pacing up and down the hallway.

_What is Lily hiding from me? What could someone like Lily possibly have to hide? Did the death of her father affect her more than I realized? If only I had somewhere I could think and figure this out without Rosier, Wilkes and Avery walking in on me! Doesn't she understand how much there is at stake? We can't keep hiding Lattimer's information in our bags, eventually someone will find it. We need a safe place to investigate. A place beyond the reach of the guys, the Gryffindor Stooges, Dumbledore and Voldemort but I doubt such a place exists._

Snape become conscious of how tired he was and turned to make the long journey to his dormitory in the dungeons. As he turned, however, he saw a red door with gold trim across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy that he'd never noticed before. Snape looked up and down the hallway and, upon seeing that there was no one else around, he cautiously approached the door. He grasped the handle and turned it. The door was unlocked. Pulling out his wand with his other hand, Snape slowly opened the door.

Severus was met with a strange but pleasant sight. Behind the door was a large room that looked like it was taken out of a Sherlock Holmes novel. A large brown wooden desk sat at the back of the room whose walls were lined with books. On another, smaller table there was a globe and several strange instruments which looked similar to Dumbledore's contraptions. Snape closed the door behind him and began looking around. Inside this room was everything one would need to investigate something: journals, file folders, maps, a large chalkboard, reference books of all kinds and even a washroom.

Snape spent a good hour in the room looking around, forgetting his fatigue. At first he felt giddy excitement at finding something new and so useful. He couldn't wait to show Lily. After a while his excitement died down and he realized that this wouldn't solve their problems, that if Lily was keeping something from him he shouldn't be so eager to have her looking around. Next came the issue of security. If he would be keeping sensitive information in the room he should safeguard it and then keep all really important information hidden and magically sealed.

Determined to make use of the room but also equally exhausted, Snape decided to come back after class, or perhaps after dinner tomorrow and set everything up. After talking to Lily, he'd decided whether he should let her know about the room or whether he'd be using the room to investigate Lily's behavior as much as Lattimer's disappearance.

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A sleepy Snape staggered down to breakfast Monday morning. Snape sat next to Avery who smiled slightly at the sight of Severus.

"How was the putting-a-muggle-in-a-hole ceremony yesterday?"

Severus just rolled his eyes and ignored Avery. When Avery began nudging him and asking again and again Snape picked up a piece of paper off the table and pretended to be interested in what it said. Once Avery stopped Snape took the time to actually read the paper he was holding. It was the information on the Halloween Hunt given last Friday.

By the looks of it the Hunt would be complicated. Nearly all the school grounds were being used as part of the search which could only mean there would be a lot of walking. Snape made a note of this and thought maybe having a broom handy wouldn't be bad, for once in his life. The majority of the Hunt would take place in the castle but the most difficult parts were outside, meaning there was a good chance that he might be stuck outside for a while, Snape made a note that the elements might be a factor. The Quidditch Pitch would become a maze, the area between the forbidden forest and the greenhouses would become a jungle, only the greenery behind the school would be left as it was. All this was obviously supposed to mess with their orientation, Snape decided to practice the compass spell. Inside the castle it was announced that all forbidden rooms would have glowing doors, any other room would be considered fair game for the hunt. The leaflet ended with the announcement that the first riddle, which must be deciphered in order to begin the hunt, would be revealed next week. When he put the pamphlet down, Avery said,

"Hey, you still thinking of doing the hunt? Me and the guys are just gunna skip out as soon as it starts. Mulciber says he'll apparate us out of here. We've been to France anyways. Wanna join?"

"I'll think about it, I'll let you know soon."

"Suit yourself mate."

Avery seemed a little disappointed but Snape would much rather spend the night with Lily, even if they would be running around the school grounds. The problem was that Lily and Snape had never agreed to go on the Hunt together. If Lily declined, or decided to group up with Potter, then he'd go with Avery and the guys. Better than sitting on his own all night while everyone ran amuck.

Unlike Snape, most of the school had something other than the hunt in mind. The hunt was two weeks away but the first Quidditch match of the season was just a few short days away. Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Typically this was one of the worst weeks of the entire school year for Snape. Not only did it give Potter and Black ample excuse to jinx Snape wherever they crossed paths, but he couldn't so much as speak to Lily without it being viewed as treason by both houses.

Severus looked across the hall to the Gryffindor table. It wasn't hard to find her sitting solemnly beside the hollering members of the Gryffindor Quiddtich team. Snape hoped she would look up and see him looking at her but she didn't, it was Potter who noticed his gaze and made a face in response. Snape scowled back at him and got up and left the Great Hall. As he left howls and jeers came flying at him from the Gryffindor table. Snape decided it was best he keep a low profile this week and hope that whatever the outcome of the match, people forgot about it quickly and kept occupied with the oncoming hunt.

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Somehow Snape made it through the week without too many problems. He managed to avoid any serious jinxes but this also meant he didn't have time to go back to the 7th floor. He certainly didn't want to be caught alone in an isolated part of the castle with Potter and Black on the prowl. Ancient Runes on Tuesday was rather awkward as Professor Babbling cried often and stopped near Lily's desk a few too many times. Severus was glad to get out of there. Thankfully by Thursday's class the professor had gathered herself and was acting normally again, even reminding them of their test which was coming up in two weeks.

It was Friday evening and Snape was making his way to the Great Hall from the library when he spotted Potter and Lily in one of the secret passages. Disillusioning himself, Snape stood as close as he could without being heard so that he could listen to what they were saying. The whole week Lily had been avoiding Snape, which was normal for this time of year, but it also meant he hadn't been able to ask her about what happened in the clock tower.

"Well, what do you want Potter?"

"Oh Lily what's the rush. Just relax."

"Well you said you had something important to discuss with me about the match, so spill it."

"Truth is, everyone on the team is a bit worried. You've been running around with Snape and acting strangely. Has he done something to you, is he threatening you with something?"

"What? Listen I know you're insane but what does this have to do with Quidditch, why would everyone on the team be worried?"

"Well, a Slytherin will do anything to win so…"

"Severus hasn't done anything to me, I'll play just fine. Is this why you dragged me out here?"

"Well no, that's not all. Ok, here it is. Lily we are in 6th year now. Soon we'll be going off our own separate ways if we don't create ties between each other."

"Ties?"

"Yes. I know I've been asking you for years but now it's more serious."

Potter got on one knee and held Lily's hand.

"Lily, will you… be my girlfriend?"

Lily did not look happy, not even slightly amused.

"Potter, what are you doing?"

"Well, I watched a few muggle movies and this is how the men asked to take possession of their women."

"Possession? You can't ever posses me Potter. I mean you may be possessed. Ok listen I will try and make this so clear that even you can comprehend. Me no likey you. No. Never. Not in a million years. Not in a million lifetimes!"

Lily pulled her hand out of Potter's hand and stomped off but not before shouting,

"And you get on one knee for a marriage proposal dumbass!"

Potter, determined to get in the last word yelled back,

"I'll win the game for you! You'll reconsider then right?"

Potter looked at the spot Lily used to be as though he was hoping she would come back. After a few minutes James gave a heavy sigh and walked away with his shoulders drooping. Snape had never seen him like that before. Severus almost felt bad for Potter, but then he remembered that this was probably the only source of unhappiness in Potter's entire life, while for himself, Lily was the only source of happiness.

Silently, Snape left the secret passage and made his way down to the Great Hall for dinner. When he sat down he looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw a dejected Potter playing with his potatoes but no Lily. Snape simply assumed that she was much too frustrated to eat at the moment, but it also meant that Snape would not be able to find Lily after dinner to talk to her.

Snape was having a staring contest with the seafood stew when Dumbledore got up to address the student body.

"Good Evening gentlepeople! The great Halloween Hunt is quickly approaching. In less than a week all of you will be pitted against each other and yourselves, in an attempt to win the Hunt. Of course the small prizes along the way are worthwhile, but the grand prize, yes, that is on another level. The final object is something more amazing than the trip to France and all the opportunities it opens."

When Dumbledore said this excited whispers started to fill the room and everyone's eyes were shining with curiosity.

"But now I must tell you something even more important. In order to begin the hunt, each team must successfully solve this riddle. The riddle is your first clue and thus the beginning of your journey."

Dumbledore waved his arms and slowly glowing words began to appear in the air.

_Set the sets_

_Here is the charge_

_What once was small_

_Now is large._

_Be cautious when near it_

_If you wish to survive_

_What might seem dead_

_Is very much alive._

_If you are afraid_

_Do not weep_

_Your tears will only_

_Make it more high and deep._

"The riddle will lead you to the beginning area of the hunt. Now I hope each and every one of you will participate, but, those who do not may remain inside the castle and pursue their own devices. I will remind everyone to take heed of safety precautions during the hunt. As previously stated professors and staff will be walking around the grounds should you need assistance and remember the spell to call for help or lifting the no communication clause. Should this hunt prove successful I certainly hope to continue the tradition, perhaps not every year but every 2 or 3 years so that the younger students will not feel left out. Now enjoy the rest of your dinner and goodnight."

Despite what Dumbledore said no one was eating anymore. Everyone huddled up in their teams, it was one of the first dinners Snape ever saw where there were so many people sitting at different house tables. Several Ravenclaws were sitting at the end of his table and Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were spread out everywhere. Everyone was discussing the riddle and what it meant. Snape knew right away what it meant and thought discussion was pointless. In the chaos Snape saw Potter, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew taking notes, something they never did in class. Lily was still nowhere to be seen so Severus decided it was best to just go to bed and hope the match tomorrow wasn't the usual fiasco.

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Well so much for hoping this year's Gryffindor versus Slytherin match would somehow be more peaceful. Usually the Gryffindors complained about Slytherins using shifty tactics but as the Gryffindors had won the past few years, all was forgotten. This time it was different, the Gryffindors didn't win so they didn't have their post-match glory to hold their tongues. The problem was that this year the Slytherin team didn't have to resort to any underhanded tactics. It seemed as though the Gryffindor team had crumbled from the inside and of course, idiot Potter was at the center of it all.

The weather was good Saturday morning, a slight wind but nothing that would hamper the players. Both houses walked down to the Quidditch Pitch with a sense of optimism. This year supporters from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sided with their Halloween Hunt group mates. Snape went down alone, just before the match. Because Lily was on the Gryffindor team Snape never had a chance to see her before the games to wish her luck but he would always go, just to watch her fly and cheer her on.

When the match started nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Both sides scored a few points and the snitch was nowhere to be seen. It was about half an hour into the game that all the madness started. The snitch appeared and both teams' Seekers began to chase after it, the only problem was that they weren't the only ones. Potter decided that he would impress Lily by catching the snitch despite being a Chaser. The rules of the game said only that the team who got the snitch ended the game not that the Seeker had to be the one to catch it. Of course this meant that the Gryffindor team was down a chaser and that Lily and a 5th year boy whose name Snape didn't know had to try to survive the increasingly violent attacks of the Slytherin team. Once they smelled blood the Slytherins were ruthless. Muciber shot a bludger with such force that despite avoiding it, the air current it caused spun Lily around on her broom. Thankfully Lily only had to endure 15 minutes of that as the Slytherin seeker came down from the clouds with the snitch in his hands. Instead of catching the snitch Potter and the Gryffindor seeker were busy shouting at each other.

The entire Gryffindor team was livid, including Lily who was heavily bruised and bleeding. Lily was the only muggle-born on the Gryffindor team so the Slytherins were particularly nasty towards her on the field, not that they were much nicer off it. Wholeheartedly concerned, Snape snuck over to the Gryffindor dressing room and waited outside for Lily. As he stood by the entrance he could overhear Lily shouting at Potter.

"What possessed you to go after the snitch? You aren't the Seeker, you're a Chaser!"

"If I thought you were a good Seeker I would have made you one Potter"

Frank Longbottom, the Keeper and the team captain seemed equally as upset.

"Look at the state of Lily and I!"

"Oh Madam Pompfrey will fix you right up Adamus, stop complaining. They were hitting Lily most of the time anyways. Lily are you alright? I'll help you practice for the next match, you'll get better at avoiding bludgers don't worry babe."

Snape rolled his eyes, Potter was really thick

"Babe… did you just call me babe? Potter are you insane or something? I can avoid bludgers just fine when there are 3 Chasers keeping the Beaters busy. And I certainly don't need help from you of all people! You really have some nerve you know that?"

"Alright, alright! That's enough. I'm exhausted and dirty I want to shower and eat and sleep. We will discuss this tomorrow. Meeting before class in our usual place. Alright, see you all then."

Snape moved further away and hid himself. One by one the team members left the dressing room. Snape was too far now to hear anything being discussed inside. After 5 minutes everyone had left the changing room except Potter and Lily. Growing slightly concerned Snape sneaked closer again but he didn't have to strain his ears for very long.

"WHAT! I embarrassed YOU? Potter you're an embarrassment to yourself. The team was upset with your performance not mine!"

"Oh come on Lily, be realistic, I'm the best player on this team. The only reason they didn't say anything was because they felt sorry for you, in your state and everything."

"In my state? What exactly does that mean?"

"You know… with your dad passing away and everything. You really should have just let someone take your place for this game."

"Well if that's how you feel then I guess I should just quit the team. I'm sure it'll be better without me then!"

Snape heard a loud crash that sound like a broom being thrown and Lily yanking the door of the changing room open. Before she could storm towards the castle Snape grabbed her and pulled her into his hiding place with him. Snape put his hand over her mouth and put his arm around her waist to keep her from screaming in surprise or running away. Just moments later, Potter came barging out of the dressing room looking red in the face and shocked. He looked around for Lily and then started towards the castle. Lily and Snape watched him go from their hiding place. There were a few awkward moments as the two watched Potter walk away. Lily was breathing heavily from the shouting match she had with Potter and the surprise of being grabbed by someone. Snape's arm around her waist was holding Lily pressed against him and the contact created a warmth that was in stark contrast to the chilly wind that hit Lily's face and legs and Snape's hand. Once Potter was out of sight Snape slowly let go of Lily who turned around and looked at Snape with a confused expression.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to talk to you and I would rather it be alone."

"Alright, you could have just said so, you didn't need to grab me."

"Well with Potter around I would rather not take the chance. Anyways that's not what I want to talk about."

"Alright then what is it you want to talk about?"

Snape looked down at Lily and tried to figure out the best wording for what he was going to ask. Lily began to look suspicious when she saw Severus hesitating.

"Well, I wanted to know what really happened in the clock tower."

Lily chuckled when he said this.

"What's so funny?"

"For a second I thought you were going to get on your knees and ask me to be your girlfriend."

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind I just, just a joke. Well what about the clock tower?"

"I went back. I saw the symbol on the clapper. I know you saw it too, right before I fell."

Lily shifted her gaze away from Snape and started walking towards the castle.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Snape followed her and said,

"Oh I'm sure you do. I also clearly remember there being something stuck to the top of the inside of the bell. It's foggy but there was something there, now it's gone."

"I don't really remember anything, sorry."

Lily hurried her pace and tried to lose Snape but he grabbed her upper arm so that Lily spun around to face him.

"Don't lie to me Lily! What are you keeping from me?"

Lily yanked her arm out of Snape's grasp and shouted back,

"You're one to talk. You've been lying to me this whole time! You knew he was involved but you didn't tell me. I heard everything the goldsmiths in the portrait said! Well I'm not going to give you information just so you can pass it on to your dear little master!"

"Lily what are you talking about?"

"This whole time you've been keeping things from me so that I wouldn't figure out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is involved. Trying to protect him and your little Death Eater friends huh?"

Lily started walking towards the castle again, nearly running now as though she was afraid of what Snape might do.

"Lily wait, it isn't like that! Wait!"

Severus ran after Lily. When Snape caught up to her again he grabbed her with both hands and turned her to face him. He held her shoulders and shook her slightly.

"I wasn't trying to protect them I was trying to protect you. I didn't want him to know you're involved in all this, I was afraid he'd come after you! I swear! None of the guys know what I'm doing."

"Well then why didn't you tell Dumbledore about the plans to the clock tower that your house mates had?"

"How did you find out about that?"

"I have my own ways of gathering information! I'm not just some silly little mudblood who thinks everything will fall into her lap. When I took on this investigation I was serious and I still am. Of course you couldn't possibly take me seriously."

Lily tried to leave again but Snape held her tight.

"I didn't tell Dumbledore because I don't trust him and I didn't tell you because I thought that if you found out he was involved you'd do something stupid, like try to get revenge for your father."

"What makes you think I would do something so stupid?"

"Well on top of me knowing your hot-headed personality, that you've had since you were little by the way, I remember what you said in the hospital after your father passed away. You looked so determined I thought maybe you'd try to duel with him or something crazy. I wasn't trying to keep you from finding out what happened to Lattimer, I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at Snape, unsure whether to believe him or not.

"Look, I'm sorry that I was keeping this from you, but it was to protect you. I promise from now on no more secrets. I even found us a bit of a headquarters, someplace we can keep all our notes and stuff."

This bit of information seemed to pique Lily's curiosity.

"Really? Because I was just thinking we needed somewhere to keep all our notes safe. After the blueprint fell out of Macnair's bag and seeing as it already happened to me once when you found out, I figured we should be more careful with our notes."

"Is that what happened? What a moron! Not that's its bad you found out but well, yeah."

The angry tension seemed to ease somewhat and Snape and Lily walked the rest of the way back to the castle together discussing the room Snape found.

"I know that room, I've used it before, it's called the Room of Requirement and it turns into whatever you need it to be. I uh, to make a quick getaway once and well anyways, Professor Babbling told me about it. I think it's a great idea, I don't know why I didn't think of it! Anyways I'll bring everything I have over to the room tonight and we can start setting up."

"Sounds good Lily. By the way.. I… uh was wondering.. I mean I was thinking…. Are you going to do the whole Hunt thing?"

"I was going to but Mary and Alice have done nothing but argue and bicker about everything thus far so I decided it would be better to just stay in the library then have to play referee for them all night."

"Well actually the library is being used as part of the Hunt so you probably shouldn't be in there, you know just in case."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"Well I was thinking we could have a go at it together. Maybe? If nothing else maybe we could look into some stuff about Lattimer while everyone is busy with the Hunt, you know off their guard and such."

"You know that's not a bad idea. Let's go sign up as a team then."

As Lily walked ahead towards the Great Hall and the head table, where professor Babbling was chatting with Professor Slughorn, Snape couldn't help kicking himself mentally.

_Have a go at it together? And such? Gosh could I have sounded any stupider?_

"Hello Professors."

"Why hello Lily, sorry about the loss, better luck next game. But goodness! Look at the state of you. You should change and head over the Poppy's to get those cuts checked out."

Professor Babbling looked genuinely concerned, she was giving Lily the same sympathetic look she had been giving her all week. Professor Slughorn on the other hand had a smug and satisfied look on his face.

"Oh don't worry Bathsheda, its normal to get a bit knocked around during a game. Sorry about the loss as well Lily but well, what can I say I suppose I'm a bit biased towards my own team."

"Yes Sir, I understand. Anyways I was actually wondering if I could sign up for the Hunt."

"Well Lily if you're going on your own you don't need to sign up, only teams need to."

"Oh I know, Severus and I are going to team up."

Both professors seemed to light up at this bit of news.

"Well that is just wonderful Lily! I was really hoping you two would team up. You know Horace they are the best in my class, both have a real knack with runes."

"Yes, yes it's the same in my class. Very instinctive both of them."

Once they had signed up for the Hunt they walked out into the Entrance Hall where they would separate to go to their respective dormitories.

"Well I guess I'll see you tonight Lily."

"Yeah, after dinner. When I'm not so muddy anymore."

"Right."

As Lily turned to leave she tripped over something. Shyly turning and giving Snape a smile to let him know she was fine Lily straightened up and picked up the newspaper she had tripped on. In all the excitement of the match and the preparations no one had really read the newspaper this morning. Now that people were starting to come down for lunch a small buzz was starting to grow in the Great Hall. Lily took one look at the front page of The Prophet and dropped it back to the floor.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

Snape picked up the newspaper and saw exactly what was wrong. In big and bold letters, on the front page of the paper was the headline:

MISSING WIZARD GEORGE LATTIMER FOUND DEAD, SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.


	14. Too Late To Turn

Chapter 14: Too Late to Turn

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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_Discovered near the Sea of Marmara by muggle Turkish authorities late last night, wizard and Tower of London curator George Lattimer, is dead at the age of 31. Having been placed on an international missing persons list by the Minister for Magic, Turkish authorities promptly notified British officials of the discovery. The state of the body mystified the muggles as he seemed to be in perfect condition and was found in a sitting position next to a market stall. Assuming he was homeless many passer-bys had left coins in a can next to Lattimer for days. It was only when army officers attempted to remove Lattimer from the market one cold night that they realized he was dead. According to witnesses he had been sitting there for at least a week. Magical authorities have examined the body and have found that Mr. Lattimer likely died as a result of the death curse and found that his body was magically preserved. Simon Sanos, head healer at St. Mungo's stated that "the murderer likely preserved the body for disposal at a later date." According to his findings Mr. Lattimer was killed at least a month ago. Friends and family say George Lattimer went missing during the summer when Big Ben's clock mechanisms malfunctioned but the Ministry disagrees, "There is no evidence to suggest that the malfunction of the clock mechanism and Mr. Lattimer's disappearance and subsequent murder were in any way related. We ask the public to not assume anything and remain calm." The Minister went on to claim that Lattimer was an adventurer and code-breaking enthusiast and likely found himself at the wrong end of a bobby trap while on vacation in Turkey. Family insist further investigation is needed but it seems magical authorities in Turkey will be taking over. _

Lily and Snape were sitting in the investigation room on the 7th floor. Snape had already read the article several times but was looking it over once more. He believed it was likely that George was dead after what the paintings said but he had hoped there was another explanation. He looked over at Lily who was ferociously looking through the copies of documents she had made in Lattimer's office. Lily was facing death more and more often lately and Snape wondered if it was taking any sort of toll on her.

"Lily you should really go to the infirmary and get a check up."

"What for, I can fix cuts and scrapes myself, there's no point."

"Yes, but you're still ill, I don't know why you decided to play."

"I am NOT ill anymore, I'm fine. People recover, just because I was sick does not mean I am going to be sick forever! I played fine!"

"Alright, relax, I wasn't suggesting you played poorly. I just figured you spent enough time in the infirmary this year."

"I have and I thus have no intention of going for a few cuts now shhh!"

Snape opened his mouth to retort but decided against it at the last second. He looked at the article again. _The Prophet_ was never a great source of unbiased news but they usually got simple facts correct. Lattimer was not a curator nor was he on any missing persons' list that Snape knew of. Had that not been the argument between Dumbledore and the Minister? If they did consider him on vacation why was he missing suddenly? It seemed like the Minister wanted to give the impression that he was doing something to deal with the disappearances. Snape did not expect _The Prophet_ to write about the connection between Lattimer's disappearance and the incident at the clock tower but he felt like this article was going to hinder their investigation somewhat.

Severus looked back at Lily who was looking increasingly exhausted and frustrated as she went through a large stack of papers, stopping every few seconds to colour code and file each sheet. He knew he should be glad Lily was doing this, it would make information easier to find, but it also seemed like Lily was throwing herself into mindless sorting to avoid dealing with the issues facing them. They were now dealing with a murder investigation, not just one that involved the most dangerous wizard alive but one that was getting a fair amount of press and attention. The chances of their intentions being discovered and of them being in danger had increased tenfold.

"Ah ha! I knew I saw something about Turkey in here. Look."

Lily passed a sheet over to Snape. On it were mindless scribbles akin to what Lily had left in the library book and given her intentions away.

"Uhh, what exactly does this tell us?"

"Don't you see, George was looking into Bulgaria. He seemed to think something was there."

"And…?"

"And, Bulgaria is next to Turkey. But from what I've read he should have been looking into Albania. I suppose he was headed to that other wizarding school?"

"Wait, what? Lily you've completely lost me."

Lily rolled her eyes and passed Severus several more papers.

"Now I'm not sure if it was related to his work in the clock tower or his own code-breaking but Lattimer was looking into south-eastern Europe: strange news, linking important magical people from the past there and so forth. He seemed to think that Bulgaria was important somehow, perhaps because of the wizarding school there… what's it called…?"

"Durmstrang Institute."

"Right. But looking over his notes it seems like he was looking for a remote area of Albania, not Bulgaria. Either way it seems he didn't find what he wanted and moved on to Turkey."

"That, or he was being chased."

"Could be."

"But this definitely means he didn't die in the clock tower?"

"I guess so. He must have escaped somehow. It does make sense, why else would he ask the portraits about anything. If he wanted answers he wouldn't have killed Lattimer and if he caught him he would have tortured him into talking."

Lily began shuffling papers again and Snape wondered how he should bring up the sphere he clearly remembers being in the bell tower. The more he thought about it the less sure he was he saw anything at all. It could have been some sort of spell. He was sure Lily tried to warn him about the sign on the clapper, it could have been some spell to lure someone up to the top of the bell… The more he thought about it the more frustrated he became.

"Lily what exactly happened in the clock tower!"

Slightly startled Lily answered,

"We've been over this already Sev."

"No we haven't, not really. Did you or did you not see the sphere stuck to the inside of the bell?"

"No, I mean, I don't know what I saw. I know there was something, but I'm not sure what it was. All I saw from below was something making a shadow."

Snape remembered that he couldn't clearly see what was there until he reached the top of the ladder.

"After I collapsed, what did you see there?"

"Nothing, whatever was making the shadow was gone, I figured it fell with you or it was just a trick of the light. Either way I was a bit preoccupied with you."

"Preoccupied?"

"You look like you'd been hexed… and you… that's all. I contacted Dumbledore."

Snape let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. Lily eyed him for a few more seconds and then started putting the files away. They were both tired and could continue another day.

iiiiiiiiiii

The rest of the weekend was spent looking through mounds of paper and trying to keep up with school work. As such Monday was an exhausted haze for Severus. Tuesday might have passed much the same way had he not gotten a rude awakening in Ancient Runes.

"Of course you will all have to work extra hard if you hope to beat the combined team of Miss Evans and Mr. Snape this Saturday."

Upon hearing his name mentioned Snape looked up from his desk. The entire class was looking at him, including Professor Babbling who was smiling and nodding her head.

"Yes you heard right students, they will make a formidable team, perhaps getting a few tips from them will help you get further in the Hunt. Now these basic rules apply to 90% of rune formations, however…"

Lily and Snape looked at each other and it was easy to see they were both thinking the same thing: everyone was hoping that they would fail, no one likes a teacher's pet. Lily ignored the looks and started doodling in her book again. These rune formations were not complicated and anyone who did any research beyond the textbook for the essay wouldn't need to take any notes. Despite that, Snape felt it was better to look like he cared so it wouldn't seem like he thought he was better than everyone else in the class, even though he was.

On their way down to Herbology after lunch, Lily and Snape were left alone. Everyone else hurried away from them.

"What is wrong with everyone?"

Lily slowed her pace to match it with Severus' and said,

"Well everyone from my house seems to think I've committed house treason in order to win the prize. Even though I tell people we started talking again, they don't believe it was motivated by anything but the stupid Hunt, like we had this planned all along. I suppose your mates are afraid you're starting to smell of mudblood."

Lily hurried ahead before Snape could say anything about her last comment. He saw Wilkes up ahead making faces at him, well, Lily might be right.

"Alright now children gather, gather up front now."

An out of breath and flustered looking Professor Sprout was gathering the class around a box shaped object covered in a white blanket.

"Now you well know that plants are going to be an important part of the Hunt. There is be a maze and a jungle set up on the grounds. Now that maze is full of nasty surprises, a wrong turn could lead you to something much worse than a dead end. Right now in the container are samples of all the significant plant life you will encounter. Read up on them and figure out how to manipulate them. Today is all practice. We will rotate the different plants ok? Right everyone in front of a plant and go at it!"

Everyone in the class looked confused but they wouldn't get much more out of Professor Sprout as she hurried out of the room after revealing a large glass container with a variety of plants in it, some of which were attacking each other.

"She's just going to leave us here?"

Asked a tall Ravenclaw.

"Well we won't have a babysitter Saturday night, now will we? If you can't handle the plant in a glass case how are you going to do when it's you and not the Fanged Germanium caught in the Devil's Snare?"

Lily produced a flame from the end of her wand and tapped the glass to get the attention of the plants, upon seeing the flame the Devil's Snare let go of the Germanium, but did not seem happy about it.

"Well it doesn't seem like you need any practice do you Miss Lily Evans?"

It was the same tall Ravenclaw. He moved closer to Lily who seemed wary. Out of nowhere the Ravenclaw pulled out a puffapod and smashed it over Lily's head, causing flowers to bloom in her hair and face, obstructing her vision. There was a tense moment as Lily wiped the petals off her face. Then Lily grabbed a puffapod and threw it at the Ravenclaw, only to have it land on Alice.

"Oh gosh Alice I'm so sorry!"

"Oh yeah?"

Alice grabbed her own puffapod and threw at Lily who ducked. The puffapod hit Wilkes and from there chaos took over. The puffapod fight saw Lily and Snape as popular targets. Soon the class was ankle deep in flowers and Mary ran out of the greenhouse sneezing the whole way. Everything was going fine until one of the puffapods broke the glass containing the plants. Suddenly the Devil's Snare let go of the Germanium and waited for one of the students to come near. The remainder of the class time was spent wrestling the plants back into the container and fixing the glass. Lily cleaned up the plants and everyone left for dinner.

The whole way back from the greenhouse Lily was anxious,

"Still I think Professor Sprout is going to have a fit when she discovers how many puffapods we wasted."

"Yes, but at least it seems most of the people here have taken out their anger on us."

"I don't see why they were mad in the first place, we didn't do anything!"

"Yes but they think we did, anyways I'm glad that's over and we did get a decent amount of practice."

"I suppose that's true."

Dinner that night was a quiet affair, most 6th years were shaking pollen off themselves, much to the displeasure of everyone sitting near them.

iiiiiiiiiii

The rest of the classes that week were very similar. The teachers would give the students some vague projects and let them go at it while they went off to have some cake or whatever it was teachers did during breaks. Severus woke up late Friday and was still sleepy when he went down for dinner. As it was the day before the Hunt everyone was nervous and there was an air of anticipation in the Great Hall. Snape noticed that most people were eating with their groupmates and would frequently huddle together in whispered conversation.

Snape debated whether he should sit with Lily but seeing as neither sitting next to Potter and his gang nor sitting at the Slytherin table was an option it seemed like a bad idea. From the looks of it there was only one other team that mixed Gryffindors and Slytherins, and Snape assume they were both purebloods.

Snape sat down on his own as all the other Slytherins were huddled in their respective groups. He caught Lily's eye from across the Hall, she had an annoyed and defeated expression on her face. She pointed towards a group to her left which contained the marauders and spun her figure at the side on her head indicating that they were crazy, then pointed to her right where Alice and Mary sat with two other girls and made the same sign again. Then she put her hands over both her ears and shook her head in frustration. Snape couldn't help but laugh but stopped when he saw Mulciber looking over at him.

"So I hear you and the mudblood made a team huh?"

Snape just nodded and tried his best to show through his body language, that he wasn't interested in speaking to Mulciber.

"I guess you think going to France together will finally seal the deal huh? I mean who can say no in Paris right?"

"It's not about the trip."

"No? Then what is it? Do you enjoy her company more than ours?"

"I would."

Roiser was looking at Lily as he said this who, fortunately, was pretending to read a book and eat at the same time.

"Evan my man, I'm shocked at you, it's all bros before hoes!"

"Yeah well when you grow a fabulous pair of tits we'll talk."

Both boys laughed and started making lewd comments about any girl in their year they felt was sufficiently busty. Severus was spared having to listen to the conversation for very long because Dumbledore stood up and addressed the student body.

"Well, now is the night before the Hunt. After many weeks of anticipation and preparation the time has come. I hope you have all prepared your best for what is to come. I have heard a few different answers to the riddle given out last week, each answer has intrigued me. Remember that the answer to the riddle is your starting point. If you have guessed correctly you will find the second clue on the list. Do not assume you are at the correct or incorrect location just because you found a clue, the progress sheet only states the number of the clue you should complete but whether the clue you found is number 2 or number 10 will not be made known to you until the end of the hunt when the clues in their proper order will be made known. To win the hunt you must simply figure out the final riddle, you do NOT need to figure out every single clue, however, the final riddle is practically impossible to figure out without other clues along the way. Yes, yes I see confusion and intrigue on all of your faces, that is good. The Hunt will begin at sunset tomorrow which is 16:30. All teams must meet up in the Great Hall by 16:00. At 16:30 all teams will be allowed to leave the Great Hall and make their way to where they believe the second clue is located. Teams will have until 6:30 the following morning, which is sunrise, to find as many clues as they can. Remember the emergency spells and the Hunt rules, all of which will be posted on the House bulletin boards for anyone to read. Now goodnight and sleep tight, you will need it."

As Dumbledore finished speaking a flurry of conversation erupted in the Great Hall. Snape thought it was best to leave and Lily appeared to share that sentiment as she also got up to leave.

"I say we go "upstairs" and talk this out, we need to be at least a little prepared."

Snape nodded and the both made their way up to the 7th floor, making sure they weren't followed.

Once they were safely in the investigation room Lily sat on a floor cushion and closed her eyes. Then she shook her head and laid down on her stomach.

"Well I brewed some stay up potions in case we get tired and this Hunt takes us all night."

"Good idea, I should have thought of that."

"Well Snape I was always the practical one."

"Oh please? Is that why you wore heels to go shopping in Diagon Alley two years ago?"

"You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

Lily and Snape both laughed, then Lily said.

"Well from what I hear everyone's already got the riddle figured out, expect a few idiots like Potter who are going to the kitchens."

"The kitchens? How did he get to the Kitchens?"

"Don't ask me, food is all he thinks about."

"Well, it should be easier to distract it if there is a large crowd, so it might be good."

"Wait, distract what? We aren't going in are we?"

Snape looked confused.

"Go in? Go in what? Wait Lily, what do you think the riddle was referring to?"

iiiiiiiiiii

Author's Note: Anyone have any guesses as to what Lily and what Snape think the riddle is referring to and what the right answer is?


	15. Let the Games Begin

Chapter 15: Let the Games Begin

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: The Hunt has become MASSIVE, so I am now splitting it into three parts instead of two, sorry about that. Also, I updated the story description because I realized it said nothing about where I'm taking the story or what the main point is. Silly me!

**Also don't forget to review!**

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape and Lily sat staring at each other, both obviously confused.

"The answer to the riddle is the lake, everyone knows it. I mean what else could it possibly be?"

"The Whomping Willow of course!"

Lily fell over laughing. Her eyes sparkled when she laughed so Snape forgot to be offended.

"How did you dream that up?"

"Well it makes sense doesn't it, seems like it's not alive but it is, it grows with tears, trees need water to grow and I'm fairly sure the Whomping Willow feeds off the tears of children."

"Right, well my mind works on logic. Why would Dumbledore send all the students, including helpless 1st years anywhere NEAR that thing? Maybe for a later clue, but as a starting point? Besides he's always discouraged students from going anywhere near it."

"I guess, but I still think it makes sense."

"I'm sure in your twisted mind it does make perfect sense. Anyways everyone else thinks…"

"Wait, what?"

It took Severus a few moments to recover from shock.

"I'm the twisted one? Since when am I twisted?"

Lily rolled onto her stomach and looked up at Snape, who was sitting on the floor cross-legged next to her, with a mischievous smile.

"Mr. Snape have you forgotten how well I know you? Who keeps containers on old food under their bed to grow fungus?"

"That fungus is useful in plenty of potions!"

"Oh yeah? Then who was the one who switched out Kevin's Polyjuice potion and turned him into Professor Sprout?"

"He deserved it! He was going to turn into me and go streaking!"

"You turned him into Professor SPROUT, a full bodied woman, t-that was disturbing to watch let alone experience!"

"I stand by what I did."

Severus crossed his hands and pointed his nose into the air away from Lily, who was creeping closer to him with an even wider smile.

"Fine, but how do you plan on excusing your Peeping Tom act from this summer? When we were kids it was okay but now it's just plain creepy."

Snape turned and stared wide-eyed and shocked at a smirking Lily.

"You… you... uh… saw me then?"

"Oh yes, I saw you, you little pervert!"

Snape jaw fell in shock and his cheeks flushed red.

"I was NOT being a pervert!"

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not and I was not spying!"

"No you were simply observing the bikini clad teenage girl in her natural environment for a muggle studies project right?"

Snape stood up quickly and did his best to look offended while Lily rolled around the floor, laughing.

"T-t-this is ridiculous, I'm going to bed."

"Fine run away! Just don't be late for tomorrow!" Lily yelled after him.

Snape could hear Lily laughing all the way down the hall.

It took an hour for Snape's heart to stop beating and for his face to go back to its normal pale, cold nature. While completely embarrassed at being caught he was glad to know she wasn't mad. Vaguely he wondered why she didn't expose him that day if she had in fact seen him, she hated him didn't she, at least then. Wouldn't she have enjoyed the sight of him being chased out of the park by the other girls who were sunbathing? Did she want him to see her like that?

As he thought this the image of Lily in her bikini crept back into his mind and as his heart began to flutter. With that any chance of him getting any sleep that night also fluttered away.

iiiiiiiiiii

The Great Hall was packed with small groups of students all speaking and shuffling about. The four house tables were gone and so were the house divisions as many of the teams were a blend of different houses.

Lily stood leaning against the wall as far and secluded from the crowd as possible. She didn't want to invite any trouble. After a brief 10 minutes of waiting Snape slithered next to her.

"Nice hiding spot, took me a while to find you."

"Um hum."

Lily was staring straight ahead with a cold expression on her face. Severus wondered if she was more upset about the spying incident than she had let on.

"Is anything the matter?"

"Plenty. I have a strange feeling about tonight. Here."

Lily tossed Snape a tiny bag that was much heavier than it could normally be, no matter what was inside.

"Your share of the load."

"I said to bring only essentials!"

"I did."

Snape gave an exacerbated sigh and tied that bag to his waist. He didn't have much time to complain as Dumbledore called for silence.

"Finally the time has come! The Hunt will shortly begin! Make sure all of your team mates are in the Hall. Anyone not in the Great Hall in the next few minutes will not be able to participate as only those who have had the anti-communication spell put on them will be allowed to participate and everyone must be in the Hall in order to have the spell put over them. Now a few last words of advice. This is NOT a game. The Hunt will test not only your magical abilities but also your logic and physical capabilities as well as your ability to think on your feet. I must stress the potential dangers you may be in so if you do not feel you will be able to accomplish a task do not attempt it, it is not worth life or limb and I assure you at times you will be in danger of losing both. Now I assume everyone is here."

Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers were at the front of the Great Hall. They all waved their wands over the students and a small bit of golden confetti fell onto everyone's head and shoulders and then disappeared.

"The Hunt had BEGUN!"

As soon as Dumbledore said those words everyone rushed out of the Great Hall in the direction of the Lake. Potter and Black ran towards the kitchens. Lily started in another direction while Snape went to follow the horde making its way to the Lake.

"Wait where are you going?"

"I think you might have been right about the Whomping Willow let's go there."

Snape could tell there was something bothering Lily, something must have happened for her to change her mind this way. Nonetheless he figured he was right and that it would be easier to follow Lily than talk her out of anything. He was surprised that Potter and his gang hadn't considered this first.

When they reached the Whomping Willow, Lily and Snape were met with a strange surprise. On the highest branch of the tree was a large yellow bow. Lily and Snape both looked at each other than back at the willow.

"Uhhh… why is there a bow on the Whomping Willow? Is it to mark the start of the Hunt?"

Lily shrugged and said,

"Maybe it's a girl and wanted to spruce itself up for the occasion."

"Lily… it's a tree!"

Lily put her finger to her lips in a playful way and said,

"Shh, she might hear you!"

Snape barely had time to look confused before Lily ran off towards the tree. As soon as they approached, the tree began to swing its branches at them. Quickly Lily produced a whip like object from the end of her wand and began trying to hit the base of the tree trunk. It took her a few tries but finally she hit the right spot and the tree froze up. Slightly bewildered, Snape followed Lily as she beckoned him towards a hole at the bottom of the tree trunk. Snape followed Lily into an underground tunnel. Snape did not have fond memories of this tunnel.

"Uhh Lily, do you know where exactly are we going?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I have a hunch. Come on"

The tunnel was low and narrow and it took them several minute to reach what looked like another opening.

"You don't think there's another Whomping Willow on this side do you?"

"No Lily, I don't."

Lily pushed open the trap door and they climbed a set of stairs into what looked like a house. In fact, it didn't look very different from his house. It looked like no one lived in the house for lack of keep but the pieces of broken furniture spread helter-skelter about the room and the fresh footprints in the dust were ample evidence that this place was used for something.

Lily took out her wand and silently cast a spell. A bright ball of light appeared and began to float away from them, Lily followed it wordlessly. Snape wondered if Lily had discovered some sort of spell that would allow them to quickly find clues and decided to follow her. They were led by the sphere of light into a room at the very back of the house and then it disappeared into the floor.

"Lily what does that mean?"

"It means there is something hidden there, but, well, where exactly are we?"

"If I am not much mistaken, I believe… we are in the Shrieking Shack."

Lily looked at Snape and considered what he said. He almost wanted to tell her about what Potter had done but then he decided it didn't matter and that this wasn't the moment. She moved away from Snape and gots on her hands and knees trying to break the floorboards. Snape rolled his eyes.

"Here Lily, allow me."

Instead of struggling to physically remove them Snape used a spell. Two floorboards instantly sprung up revealing a rather large box. Lily pulled it out and opened it. What they found was rather unexpected and they both flushed red before turning away from each other. Lily quickly put the lid back on the box and threw the box back into the hole in the floor.

"Definitely not a clue."

"Nope, definitely not."

There were a few awkward moments before Lily said,

"I guess I was right about this place."

"What about it?"

"I think Potter and his gang might be using this place as a little hideout."

"Ah, yes seems likely."

"We should go, we are going to be way behind everyone else."

Snape nodded and they both made their way back through the tunnel and, after another brief brush with the Whomping Willow, ran towards the Lake to find their first clue.

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape and Lily spent about two hours running around the exterior of the castle from clue to clue. The clues were easy to figure out and the spells needed to physically gather the "clues" or "answers", depending how you looked at them, were at 3rd year level or lower. The prizes so far had been potions ingredients and other small but useful things such as stationary supplies. As Snape and Lily found their 26th clue they could tell the prizes were getting more expensive. The last clue told them to "look for Dragon pat_é_ in a bale of hay". Snape and Lily rushed over to the giant stack of hay near Hadrid's hut and used a simple _accio_ spell to find the dragon livers hidden inside, although, they both regretted it as both their hands now smelled of dog food. They had both been rushing to catch up to the others. They had seen other groups running around but it seemed most 4th years and above had been led into the castle already.

"So what does the note tied to the dragon liver say?"

"Go where Hogwart's reptiles meet, if you're quick you'll find something to eat."

"I'm guessing that would be the Slytherin common room, maybe there's some sort of timer, we should hurry."

Lily nodded in agreement and they ran into the dungeons. Lily almost ran past the common room door as it looked just the same as any other stretch of wall. Snape, also out of breath, caught Lily's cape and stopped her.

"It's here."

Snape faced the wall and said, "Semel vivis."

The piece of the wall moved and revealed a hollow, cave-like common room.

"This is kinda what I expected actually."

Snape nodded and smiled meekly, it was strange to have Lily stand in the Slytherin common room.

"So where do you guys meet, around the table?"

"No, we gather around the banner when we have something to discuss."

"Okay, banner."

Lily walked over to the large tapestry that had the Slytherin coat of arms on it. She lifted it away from the wall and looked behind it.

"Ohh! I see a piece of paper!"

Lily yanked the paper off the wall, and read,

"The Slytherin life,

Have a taste.

Pick something from the room

And make haste!"

As soon as Lily finished reading, it began to rain snakes. Lily screamed as the floor of the common room quickly began flooding with all sorts of snakes. Snape tried to grab something but couldn't, it was like everything he touched was glued down.

"Lily you're the one holding the clue, you have to pick something!"

"Okay, oh gosh, let's just get out of here!"

Snape and Lily an out and closed the stone door behind them. They both sat down on the floor to catch their breathes.

"What did you grab?"

Lily held out a couch cushion.

"That's what you decided to take?"

"Well it said to pick something, not that it had to be special."

"Really? With all the swords and golden cups adorning the room, you grabbed a cushion?"

"Well excuse me!"

"Alright, so what now?"

"I don't know but its cold down here."

Lily hugged the cushion closer for warmth and then quickly dropped it.

"What is it Lily?"

"There's something in the cushion. You don't think it's a snake do you?"

Lily quickly moved away from the cushion while Severus took out his wand and poked at the cushion.

"No I don't think it's anything alive."

Snape ripped open the cushion and they found a mini cauldron inside. Inside the cauldron was a small note that read:

_Bubble, bubble. Toil and trouble. Make it, bake it, on the double._

"Do you think we need to make a potion out of the ingredients we found earlier?"

"Maybe. Let's go over to the spare potions classroom, it's just down the hall."

The two classmates walked over to the potions classroom and saw that more small cauldrons were already lined up for them to use. Lily looked through the cupboards and founds only self-rising flour and oats.

"Well what kind of potions are we supposed to make from that?"

"Snape, I think we're meant to make muffins. These cauldrons are the perfect size and we found some honey and wolfberries as prizes for figuring out clues. We could make some yummy muffins!"

Snape smiled awkwardly and said,

"I think I'm going to leave the baking to you."

"Why because I'm a girl?"

"No because I've never baked before."

"Oh."

Lily gathered all the ingredients, made the batter and started a fire under each of the four cauldrons. The she said,

"It's going to take 10 to 15 minutes for them to cook."

"Oh alright."

This was the first bit of downtime they had since they began the Hunt. The both sat on top of the tables and took this time to rest and relax. The smell of the muffins was starting to fill the room and Lily took a deep breath and tilted her head back. As she did her cape fell open and Snape could see a sliver of Lily's pink bra peeking out from under her black v-neck shirt. Severus couldn't take his eyes off her. As she let out a satisfied sigh Severus quickly turned away and said,

"So what if we have to go into the other common rooms?"

"I know the passwords for the other three, unless they've changed since yesterday, which at least the Gryffindor password hasn't changed so the other houses probably wouldn't have either."

"How do you know the passwords?"

"I actually made friends outside of my own house."

"Right, like uh, that Fateen."

When he said this he cupped his hands in front of his chest.

"You know Snape there's more to Fateen than her chest."

"Right, it's just she's kind of known, you know recognized for that aspect of… her person."

"They aren't THAT big, we wear the same cup size."

Although Lily said this offhandedly as soon as it left her mouth the tension in the room rose and there was an awkward silence.

"I'm uhh going to check on the muffins."

"Right you do that."

When the muffins were finished and Lily shook them out of the mini cauldrons there were a set of words burned onto the bottom of each cauldron. She put them in order and discovered that they had to take the muffins to the kitchen to be tested.

When the pair made their way to the kitchens they were greeted by a swarm of house-elves.

"Welcome students, you have muffins?"

"Yes, here you go. They're wolfberry and honey muffins."

The house-elves took the muffins from Lily and a few of them tasted one. The lead house-elf gave Lily and Snape a thumbs-up and led them into the kitchen.

"Lovely muffins, now eat!"

"What?"

"You have to eat the whole pie, clue is at the bottom on the pan. But only one can eat, the other watches."

The house-elf who said this plopped a giant pecan pie onto the table to which Lily and Snape had been led. Both were left shocked and wide-eyed. The pie must have been the circumference of a Christmas wreath and quite deep.

"So who is going to eat it?"

"I'm certainly not, I hate sweets."

"Yeah but Severus, you're a guy, you can eat more. Besides if I eat this pie it's going to go straight to my hips."

"Since when did you start caring about your weight?"

"Since I started gaining it! Now eat!"

"No way, you're eating it."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn? It's just pie it won't kill you!"

"Fine we will do this the fair way. Excuse me."

Snape called over one of the house-elves.

"Can you think of a number between 1 and 10? Both of us will guess and number and whoever is closest won't have to eat okay?"

The elf nodded in understanding.

"Lily, ladies first."

"Alright, 4."

"I say 7."

The house-elf just smiled for a moment then said,

"Oh yes, the number was 6."

Lily groaned in defeat and Snape passed her a spoon with a cheeky expression on his face.

30 minutes in and Lily was only half finished the pie. Bored and tired of Lily staring angrily at him, Snape decided to talk to the house-elves.

"So how many students have already come through here?"

"Not too many sir. Many had bad muffins, had to do it over. There are a few students eating in other rooms, never have 2 teams in one room professor Dumbledore said, yes he did."

"Ah, I see. How many teams would you say went before us?"

"Oh not many sir, 4 or 5 sir."

"Ah, I see thank you."

When Snape shared this piece of information with Lily all she did was groan and continue stuffing pie into her mouth. All Severus could think about was how cute she looked.

iiiiiiiiiii

After over an hour of eating non-stop, Lily finally finished the giant pie but could hardly walk. Snape considered levitating her but he was afraid that might make her sick.

"Ohh man I am sooooo full! What does the next clue say?

"Ding dong the grey witch is dead."

"Ah that would be the clock, let's go."

"How do you know it's the clock?"

"The Grey Lady, Ravenclaw's ghost, loves to hang out up there. Maybe she died there so she likes to spend time there like Moaning Myrtle."

Snape just nodded and followed Lily, perhaps they would be going to Ravenclaw's common room next. When they reached the clock tower they started looking around for a clue. A few minutes after they arrived the clock struck 10. It was hard to believe so much time had passed, the pace they were keeping made it seem like hardly an hour had passed. As the ringing of the bells dissipated, Lily began walking towards the bell itself. It seemed like Lily was thinking the same thing he was, maybe whatever they were looking for was by the bell. Both of them became tense as they experienced an eerie moment of déjà-vu.

Just as they had known it would be the moment they came up here, a sphere was stuck to the top of the inside of the school's bell. To Snape it looked exactly like the one he found in Big Ben. Instead of climbing up Snape decided to use a spell to get the sphere down this time. Once he had it in his hands he could see that it was in fact not a perfect sphere but that it had many tiny smooth sides. The writing on it said, "My password is a simple key. Open me up and see what you see."

"What do you think that means Severus?"

"I'm not sure."

They caught each other's gazes and Lily abruptly turned away. Not knowing what prompted him, Snape asked,

"How did you open the one in the Tower?"

"I..I didn't."

Snape would not look away although he could see that Lily desperately wanted him to. They sat there in awkward silence for over ten minutes when suddenly Lily got up and grabbed the sphere-like object from Snape's hands. Snape was about to protest when the bell rang again. Lily was holding the object onto the bell and she shook with the bell's vibrations. When the bell stopped ringing Snape ran over to Lily and saw that the sphere had opened and that it was hollow.

"It's a puzzle box, the password is a simple key, key as in a musical key. The vibrations from the bell open it and when the vibrations stop it closes unless something holds it open."

Lily smiled weakly and passed Snape the box but he didn't much care what was inside this puzzle box. What he wanted to know was what was in the puzzle box from Big Ben and why Lily would hide it from him.


	16. The Prey and the Player

Chapter 16: The Prey and the Player

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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Lily walked over to the side of the room and leaned up with her shoulder against the wall with her back to Snape who was still holding the puzzle box.

"Lily, what was in the puzzle box that we found in Big Ben? What happened when it opened?"

Lily turned her head slightly and said,

"Like I said, you collapsed."

"Alright but why, was it because of whatever was inside the box."

Lily nodded her head yes.

"Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"Because I didn't trust you… I still don't"

Suddenly Snape was furious, he walked over to Lily and faced her, his shoulder against the wall.

"How long are you going to keep punishing me for a few mistakes? How many times do I have to apologize? W-what do I have to do?"

"Trust doesn't come back overnight Severus. I have forgiven you but that doesn't mean I can trust you, not with something so important."

"You don't trust me but you trust Dumbledore and Potter?"

"No I don't, not anymore. Well Potter I never really trusted but now, well I know to be on guard around him. I…I can't trust anybody!"

"Why not? What happened?"

"Someone is watching me, following me, my room has been searched, many times, things are disappearing."

"What?"

Lily suddenly looked tired and afraid. She ran her hands through her hair and clutched onto her bangs before saying,

"Potter follows me around, he always knows where I am and who I'm with. I think Dumbledore asked him to watch me. My room has been searched. He took my potions, obviously he thought it would hinder me in whatever he thinks I'm doing. I don't know who is helping him, my own roommates might be in on it for all I know. I thought, I thought maybe I was just going crazy after my father died, I…I wasn't myself, you saw… you know how I was."

"And you think I'm helping them?"

"No, I think you're helping someone else."

"Lily I already explained…"

"I know! But what if it happened again?"

Lily had a strange and desperate look in her eyes. Snape was both frightened and worried.

"What if what happened again?"

"What if your 'friends' decided to 'crash' another party? Would you help them again, knowing what happened before? Of course you would. I mean next time it could be me and you would still help them."

"Lily what are you talking about?"

"Don't you think I know why you bother with that lot? You want them to accept you, respect you, to like you and eventually to envy you."

"You think I would help them kill people just to get ahead?"

Lily looked Snape straight in the eye and in a mocking tone said,

"I don't know, would you?"

Overcome with a sudden rush of anger, Snape grabbed Lily by the shoulders and roughly pinned her up against the wall.

"Do you think this is funny? That's what you think of me? You've known me since we were kids and that's what you think of me, after all those years?"

Snape felt dizzy and sick. He lowered his head, no longer able to look Lily in the face, he kept his hands on her shoulders but loosened his grasp.

_She really does hate me._

"I don't know what to think anymore Severus, I want to trust you, desperately, I do."

Lily grabbed the sides of Snape's face with her hands and tried to lift his head up but he resisted, he was tearing up and didn't want Lily to see. Lily tried to get him to lift his head again,

"Sev, please."

When she said his name, the name only she ever used, Severus felt all his breathe fly out of him. He'd dreamed of hearing Lily say his name like that again but the moment was bittersweet. It didn't mean what he wanted it to mean, he no longer mattered to Lily. He, he was no different than Potter to her. Anger rushed into him again and he tightened his grip on Lily's shoulders before asking in a low voice,

"Where is it?"

When she heard his tone, Lily dropped her hands to her side, almost protectively and asked,

"Where's what?"

"You know what I mean. The puzzle box, the one from Big Ben. Where are you keeping it?"

As he asked this Snape looked up and Lily turned her head away. He could see unshed tears in her eyes. Lily sniffed and wiped her eyes before saying,

"What does it matter where it is?"

"I deserve to know what was it, to know what happened to me!"

When Lily didn't answer and kept her head turned from Snape, he said,

"You can't be keeping it in your room if it's being searched and you wouldn't have kept it in the Unknowable Room if you wanted it hidden from me..."

Just then Snape looked down and noticed Lily's waist pack, the twin of the one he was wearing.

"You're carrying it around with you aren't you?"

Lily breathed in sharply and tried to move away from Snape but he held her back. He grabbed his wand and tried to magically take the bag but it was no use, she tied it magically and securely, only she would be able to undo it. In that case, Snape figured the best option was to open the drawstrings and grabbed the puzzle box but he needed Lily to stay still in order to do that. In his momentary lapse in attention Lily grabbed his wand and threw it a few meters from where they were standing and tried to run but Snape caught her before she got a few steps away. He grabbed her wrists so that she couldn't grab her own wand and pinned her against the wall again.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be Lily. You can't expect me to allow you to continue lying to me."

Severus let go of one hand and tried to open the bag but Lily resisted. Snape grabbed the bag's string that was tied around Lily's waist but she pulled it off. In the struggle, Lily's shirt was pushed up and one of her belt loops tore.

"Severus please! Stop! Just st.."

Lily stopped in mid sentence and froze. Snape looked up and saw that she was looking at something behind him. When Snape turned his head he saw Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew standing behind him. Potter looked livid and had his wand out. Black was on the floor and Pettigrew was helping him up. Lupin stood still, shocked, his hands balled into fists.

Snape turned back to Lily who was obviously crying, he let go of her. With a shaky voice Lily said,

"You get so mad at me for not trusting you but you don't trust me either!"

"What? What are you talking about now?"

"You, I have a reason not to trust you after everything but you don't trust me. If you did you'd know that I'm keeping what I'm keeping from you for a reason!"

Snape sighed and pushed his hair out of his face while turning away from Lily. When he looked behind him he could see that both Potter and Black had their wands out and were speaking to each other but Snape couldn't hear anything. Instinctively Snape went to grab his wand but it wasn't there. As though she knew what he wanted, Lily accio-ed Snape's wand and handed it back to him. In front of them Potter and Black physically protested.

"Here. But don't bother trying to do anything, the non-communication spell also keeps us from hexing people on other teams, remember?"

Lily began walking away but Snape grabbed her hand. After taking one last look at the Marauders Snape said,

"Wait! I still want to see what was in the puzzle box. Give it to me."

"And how will you open it? It only opens at a specific frequency. The bell at Hogwarts vibrates at a different frequency. In fact Big Ben is the only bell in England, and perhaps the world that rings at that exact frequency. You won't be able to open, even if you go back. The tower has been opened to muggles again."

Snape wanted to retort but knew it was futile. He let go of her wrist and noticed that it was red.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Lily smiled weakly and said,

"Oh I don't know, I think maybe you did. Pent up frustration can do that."

Snape pressed his lips together and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to avoid the obvious awkwardness of the situation, especially with Potter and his gang watching them.

"Come on let's go, Hufflepuff's crest was inside the puzzle box, that should be our next location."

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When Snape and Lily got to Hufflepuff they were met by two vials filled with a lime green potion. When they drank it they became very small and had to go searching through one of the couches for the next clue. They struggled to walk through the spaces in between the cushions and had to climb over mountains of lint. The next clue was stuck to a galleon which, due to their small size, was bigger than they were. There were also two more vials filled with a murky blue potion which made them big. Amazingly enough, the galleon also became large and then broke into many smaller galleons, 200 of them to be exact.

"Wow, I think this is definitely the most rewarding clue we've found so far!"

Snape had to agree, getting 100 free galleons was better than anything he had expected from the Hunt, perhaps they were nearing the end. Snape wondered why more people hadn't gotten as far. Well any team without a Slytherin member would have had to sneak in behind another team or had to figure out the next step on their own. Of the 85 teams that were registered at the beginning of the Hunt, Snape felt certain they were in the top 10.

"What does the next clue say Lily."

"Blah, blah garden, blah, blah sweet mallow. Okay to the greenhouses we go!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, why? You don't trust even my deduction skills anymore?"

Snape rolled his eyes and followed Lily out of the Hufflepuff common room.

When they got outside they realized they would have to go into the maze to get to the greenhouses. Lily put her hands on her hips and stared at each of the three starting points with some intensity.

"Hey, Snape, reach into your pouch and grab me your broom."

Snape couldn't help but laugh when she said this. Lily looked back at him and said,

"What?"

"No… nothing, here."

Snape handed her the old broom they had packed and Lily climbed on. She flew a few meters into the air and began drawing something on a piece of paper. When she got back down she handed Snape a piece of paper and said,

"Here I made each of us a map. Seems all three opening reach the greenhouse but they are of different lengths."

"Alright which one is shortest?"

"No, no, no. Not the shortest, never the shortest. It's bound to be the most difficult, with the most traps and obstacles. The longest one would pretty much take us all night so the middle one is our best bet. The one I drew in red."

Severus looked down at the rough and badly made drawing, but he could make out the directions.

"Why did you make two?"

"In case we get separated."

With that Snape and Lily walked into the maze through the middle opening.

Almost as soon as they walked into the maze, gravity shifted and the right-hand hedge became the floor. As Severus was standing to Lily's left he fell on top of her, it took him several moments to comprehend what had happened. Lily did not seem too surprised, almost as though she had expected something like this and regained her bearings much more quickly. She turned underneath Snape and faced him.

"Are you alright?"

Snape pushed himself onto his elbows and looked down at Lily who looked genuinely worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

Lily nodded and Snape rolled to the side so that he was laying on his back, the branches of the maze hedges digging into him. Lily was also laying on her back and was looking around.

"The space between the hedges is too small for us to walk upright, it would be dangerous anyways, the hedges aren't all that solid. If we step on a weak spot we might fall through. Looks like crawling is our only option."

Snape nodded and said,

"Yeah, shouldn't be too bad, we had practice going to the Shrieking Shack."

At the mention of the Shrieking Shack, Lily blushed then rolled her eyes.

"Potter and Black are really something."

Severus, who was crawling to the right of Lily so that she could crawl on the thicker and more solid branches near the soil, asked,

"Why leave out Pettigrew and Lupin, I'm sure they are just as involved in their… adventures."

Lily laughed and said,

"I highly doubt those two are the instigators of anything. Pettigrew just clings onto them because he doesn't think anyone else would be his friend, and he wouldn't be wrong. Pettigrew gives me the creeps!"

Severus laughed then cautiously asked,

"What about Lupin then?"

"Oh, Lupin. I think out of all of them I know Lupin best, since we were forced to work together as prefects. Slim pickings for male Gryffindor prefect in our year, but Lupin was the best of the worst. He does his job decently, except when it comes to his friends of course. I can't police them because they don't take me seriously and Dumbledore is much too fond of them to ever seriously punish them. So they get to do whatever they want, including following me around it would seem."

Lily sighed and continued crawling. Beside her Snape was getting up the courage to ask something he'd been wanting to ask for a while.

"Well, I have warned you about them."

"I can handle them being protective, or in Potter's case, obsessive but it's not really anything to be worried about."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm not worried about them trying to kill me, I can't say as much about your friends."

"They might not try to kill you Lily, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't kill."

"You really think they would kill an innocent person on someone else's order?"

"If it was Dumbledore who asked, then yes. Frankly I think they would kill for fun."

Lily stopped and turned to Snape,

"Believe me, death is not something any of them take lightly. You don't know the Marauders as well as you think you do."

"I know enough."

"I'm sure you think you do anyways."

Just after Lily said this gravity changed again and they fell onto the hard ground. When they looked up they saw two giant flowers as tall as Dumbledore, standing in front of each of them. Beyond the flowers was a large circular opening in the maze. Before they could get up properly each of the flowers grab one of the teammates and dragged them to two separate openings in the maze. Just before they were separated from view Snape heard Lily yell,

"The map!"

Snape found it odd that Lily was so well prepared. The flower did not carry him for long. As soon as they were deep enough into the new path the flower dropped him and blocked him from going back. Remembering what Lily said, Snape pulled out his map and tried to figure out where he was. The big circle, they should have gone to the right but they had both gone forward, he would have to go ahead and then turn right at the next opening. Just as he looked up from his map a small monkey with wings landed on his head! Snape yelled and fell back, shooing the monkey off of him. The monkey hopped off of Snape's head, laughed and then ran off on top of the hedge. Snape got up and brushed off his head then continued forward.

He could see there was something up ahead. As he got closer he saw it was a statue of a winged-woman. It was blocking his path. He decided to try to squeeze past it on one side but as soon as he touched the statue, it came alive. The small, pale, winged woman with black hair turned towards him. Snape pulled out his wand and took several steps back. The woman stared at Snape but did not approach. Her white wings stretched out, blocking almost the entire path and they dwarfed her body which was half the size of a human's. She was wearing a simple black dress that had no shape and looked like it had been torn at the bottom. Suddenly the woman smiled and said,

"Hello, Severus."

Shocked he asked,

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh I know many things, the questions is what do you know?"

"Is this some sort of riddle or quiz?"

The nymph-like creature smiled and responded,

"Not exactly."

She flew behind Snape and he turned, adamant to keep her in view.

"In this test, the answers are your enemies not the questions. So Severus what do you know about your teammate?"

"About Lily, tons, we've known each other since we were little. Ask away."

"Alright. Let's start off easy, when is her birthday?"

"January 30th."

The creature nodded and flew around him in a circle, almost as though she was trying to make him dizzy.

"What is her favourite food?"

"Her mother's roast."

"What is her favourite class?"

"Potions, I think. Or at least it used to be."

The nymph cocked her head but accepted the answer.

"What is her greatest fear?"

"I… think bugs…maybe. She always screams when she sees one anyways."

This time she just smiled, not giving any indication if the answer was correct or not.

"Where was she just before the Hunt began?"

"In the Great Hall."

"No Mr. Snape, that is incorrect."

Suddenly the woman flew near Snape and leaned in so that her and Snape's faces were almost touching.

"Would you like to know the correct answer?"

Severus wasn't sure if this was part of the test or not but he was curious. He remembered the cold, distant look on Lily's face.

"Yeah, sure. Where was she?"

The woman seemed immensely thrilled when Snape asked, so much so that Snape instantly regretted it, knowing it was the wrong thing to do.

"She was here. Here in the maze, and she wasn't alone or nearly as dressed."

Snape knew he shouldn't ask for more details but, all he could think was,

_It couldn't be true could it?_

"Are you lying?"

"No. no Mr. Snape, I never lie. She was here, oh yes she was. They were here together, he was on top of her and oh the sounds she was making!"

_She has to be lying, Lily would never, not with Potter, not in a million years. _

Then it started making sense. Why Lily knew what to expect when she entered the maze, why she was defending the Marauders, and the way she talked about…Lupin. Severus had to know.

"It wasn't James Potter on top of her was it?"

The fairy nodded her head no.

"No, no not Mr. Potter."

Severus could feel his heart beating in his chest. His blood was boiling, he was burning from the inside. He closed his eyes and fell to the ground. In the sky above him the fairy-nymph was happily flying in circles. When he opened his eyes Severus saw the woman watching him. She asked,

"Do you want to know more Mr. Snape?"

Severus chuckled bitterly, pulling on the grass near the statue base and tearing it from the earth.

"There's more to know?"

"Yes, there is a question bouncing around in your head, I can hear it."

Snape looked up and asked,

"Does Lily know Lupin is a werewolf?"

"Yes she knows, it didn't change how she felt for him, not even one tiny little bit. Well maybe she pitied him a little more."

Snape got up quickly, determined to finish the hunt so he could kill Lupin. Wolf boy was turning out to be more of a nuisance than Potter and Black put together. As he walked away he could hear the fairy-like creature laughing and yelling,

"Don't you want to hear more Mr. Snape?"

Severus ignored it and kept walking. He understood now what she meant by the answers being the enemies. Snape was so angry he almost missed the turn. He couldn't believe, of all people, Lupin. Although knowing she didn't care he was a werewolf, Lily must really care about him to overlook something so life changing, so dangerous. Unfortunately that revelation just made him madder. Snape was walking blindly, so much so that he didn't notice a person standing in the way and walked right into them.

"Ouch! Snape watch where you're going! You're not still dizzy are you?"

It was Lily, her cheeks looked flush and her eyes were puffy like she'd been crying but that didn't bother Snape so much. Whatever her fairy said, it couldn't have been worse than what he heard. Lily looked worried and reached up to feel Snape's forehead but he avoided her hand and kept walking.

"Come on we don't have all night."

Lily followed and they made it to the greenhouses. The clue asked them to gather a list of pieces of plants from inside the greenhouse. The list was long so Lily and Snape split the work. Frankly Snape was having trouble looking Lily in the eye and preferred being away from her until he cooled off. Lily went into the greenhouse on the left and Snape went to the one on the right.

While inside the greenhouse, Snape jumped head first into the tangle of vines and plants, not caring if he got bruised and cut. It felt good to wrestle with the _Venomous Tentacula_ and pretend it was Remus. When he exited the greenhouse Snape had a fair share of cuts and scrapes. Lily was already waiting by the post with her plants. When she saw Snape Lily gasped,

"Goodness, Severus what happened? Gosh, you must have gotten the harder list… Here."

Lily tried to grab Snape's arm to more closely examine his wounds but Snape just pulled his hand away. He knew she was just pretending to be concerned out of courtesy.

"Hey, Snape don't just walk away, you're bleeding! At least disinfect the wounds!"

When he didn't stop Lily pulled out her wand,

"_Petrificus Totalu__s!"_ Lily then opened her pouch and pulled out a bottle of _essence of dittany_. As she was nursing Snape's wounds she said, "If you aren't going to stay still I'm going to have to force you. I know you probably don't want me touching you but you'll just have to deal with me touching the cotton swab that's touching you. Fair compromise right?"

When she said this Snape wondered if she heard what the… that thing said to him. He didn't recall overhearing anything she said so it seemed unlikely. When Lily released him from the spell he stood up and simply said,

"Don't do that again"

He then walked to the post in front of the overgrown greenhouses on which was a blender attached to a printer. Lily looked at it questioningly.

"This is a serious misrepresentation of muggle technology, I mean, they aren't even plugged in!"

Snape just rolled his eyes and put all of their plant pieces into the blender. When he did the printer began printing out a sheet of green paper which had the Gryffindor symbol on it.

"I guess that's our next stop. Finally you'll get to see where I spend every torturous night being tormented by the Marauders!"

Snape scoffed,

"I can't be all bad."

In response Lily smiled weakly.

When they walked back towards the maze a direct path to the castle opened up for them. As they stepped between the hedges Lily wrapped her arms around herself and shook as though she was cold. Instinctively Snape's fingers flinched towards his sweater. His jealousy and disappointment had only temporarily numbed the way he felt for Lily. He wanted to give her anything she needed but he knew, it wasn't his warmth she wanted.

Under his skin flushed red hot with anger, Snape's heart became a little colder.

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Author's Note: Who is the player and who is the prey? A play on words, don't forget it later on!


	17. Knock, Knock, Who's There?

Chapter 17: Knock, Knock; Who's There?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: Hey guys, here is the end of the Hunt! Like I wrote on my profile I will be editing every chapter in the story before writing chapter 18, this shouldn't take too long since I'm on vacation now. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Lily and Snape were standing in front of the Fat Lady who was asleep and slightly snoring.

"Oi, wake up!"

The Fat Lady mumbled and opened her eyes.

"Ah yes, password?"

"Tricky fix."

Without saying anything, the Fat Lady swung the door open and Lily stepped over the threshold first. After she was inside she turned towards Snape and beckoned him in.

The Gryffindor and the Slytherin common rooms couldn't be more different. The cold, empty darkness of the Slytherin common room was sharply contrasted by the warm and colourful patterns in the overstuffed Gryffindor common room. Snape was taking it all in knowing he may never see this room again. As he bent his neck to look at the ceiling Severus noticed a large collection of brooms floating overhead. He pulled on Lily's sweater and pointed upwards.

"Well those aren't usually there so I guess they are for our challenge in here."

The brooms were all huddled together, as far from the pair as possible and trembling as though in fear. Snape turned to Lily,

"According to the clue I think we have to catch one of them, maybe to use later I'm not sure. But what spells would work well on a broom?"

Lily simply rolled her eyes and held out her hand. Snape looked at it, confused.

"The broom, the one we brought. I'll go up and grab one of them."

Snape wordlessly handed the broom to Lily, glad she hadn't suggested he be the one to go up after the broom. Despite their fear-stricken appearance, Snape didn't feel the brooms would allow themselves to be captured very easily. As Lily approached the brooms his suspicion was verified as the brooms began flying in all directions, away from Lily. Soon some of the brooms were madly dashing towards Lily, hoping no doubt to throw her off her own broom. To Lily and Snape's horror it seemed even the broom Lily was on was siding with its broom brethren. Lily's broom bucked and spun, trying to shake her off.

"Lily, just immobilize your broom then hit one of the other ones!"

"Easier said than done!"

Lily yelled back at Snape. Unsure of what to do, Snape watched from below, he wanted to try and hit one of the brooms but feared he would hit Lily instead. Just as Snape thought this, a broom's handle made contact with the back of Lily's head and a loud thump echoed throughout the room followed by a loud yelp from Lily.

"That's it, no more Miss Nice Lily!"

Clearly angry, Lily began shooting spells in all directions and one by one the brooms were falling out of the air. Below, Snape was running left and right trying to avoid the falling brooms. Within a few minutes all the brooms were spread helter skelter throughout the common room and Lily slowly returned to the ground with her broom back to normal.

"There, no big deal. Snape grab one of the brooms and put it away with this one. I have to go to the bathroom."

"Can't you wait?"

"Until when? This is supposed to take all night. Besides I had to eat an entire pecan pie and drank like 3 liters of water, remember?"

Begrudgingly Snape allowed Lily to dash upstairs. He grabbed one of the brooms and noticed that Ravenclaw's crest was on it so that must be their next destination. Realizing he was alone in the Gryffindor common room, Snape was suddenly very uncomfortable; it was like being in Lily's room all alone. Looking around Snape noted that this room was exactly the one he had seen Lily and Potter arguing in when he glimpsed into her mind during runes. Perhaps he **had** seen a memory of Lily's. The memory made him angry, what right did Potter have to touch Lily?

_Is that what she meant by "being tortured"? Did Potter regularly assault Lily when no one was around? Where was Lupin when all this was happening? Why didn't he intervene?_

Snape did not have much time to ponder these questions as Lily appeared on the staircase.

"Hey, since we're here, want to have a look around?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you might never get a chance to see my common room again!"

"You didn't seem all that curious about the Slytherin common room."

"Yes well that was because there were snakes everywhere, and I've been in there before."

"What? When?"

"It's a long story, hum... I can't let you into the girls' rooms. There's a spell that keeps boys out."

"Are you suggesting we go into the boys' dormitory? As in where the Marauders stay?"

Lily nodded her head yes and smiled mischievously before running up the other stairway. Snape felt he had no choice but to follow. As he ran up the stairs he wondered if Lily ever snuck into Lupin's room at night, no, he shouldn't think about that. Lily was leaning against a wall across from a door he assumed led to the Marauders' dorm room. He tried to open the door but it was locked, magically.

"It seems they have security."

"Yes but they're stupid, they put their protection on their door, so there's a way to get around it."

Lily walked over to their neighbors' door and hit the door with her wand. The door opened instantly.

"Second years, come in."

Snape followed and stood next to Lily who was facing the wall that the second years' room shared with the Marauders' room. She used her wand to draw an arch in the wall and with a tap the wall became blurry. Lily looked at Snape before running through the wall. Surprised, Snape touched the wall only to find his fingers did not meet anything solid, so he followed Lily. It was just like the wall at the railway station, except a bit more difficult to walk through. When he got to the other side he saw a room filled with a mish-mash of items and 4 beds each obviously belonging to a different personality.

Lily was bent over next to the second bed from the door.

"Whose bed is this?"

"Potter's, the one by the door is Black's, Lupin's is next to Wormtail's, who sleeps by the wall."

"What are you looking for?"

"Remember how I told you some of my things went missing? I want them back. I reckon Potter stashed them somewhere in here. I couldn't miss this opportunity to search."

Snape looked around, he could tell whose bed was whose, except maybe Black and Potter's which seemed quite similar. Pettigrew's bed was a disaster and Lupin's was oddly clean and empty of belongings, it didn't even look slept in. Lily was still rummaging through Potter's things. Making sure she wasn't looking Snape went over to Lupin's bed and pulled the curtains back slightly. There weren't any pictures of Lily, but he had to be careful since Potter shared this room too.

"Ugh why is everything such a mess, I can't figure out what is what!"

Snape turned back to Lily who was clearly aggravated.

"I can't just _accio_ potion bottles, who knows how many they have in here."

Lily looked back at Snape and opened her mouth to say something but then she hesitated

"What?"

Not looking Snape in the eyes Lily said,

"Could you wait outside?"

"What? Why?"

"It'll be easier for me to search without you in here."

"What you mean is you want to be more specific with your _accio_ but if I hear you, I'll figure out what is in those bottles?"

Lily sighed and looked away.

"_Accio_ Demersa potions"

As Lily said this, four bottles of pearl purple liquid flew towards her and she stopped them in mid air with her wand. Snape tried to grab one to get a better look but Lily put them away and said,

"It a combination of Draught of peace, a touch of Re'em blood and elixir to induce euphoria infused with Peppermint."

Snape went over the ingredients in his head, peace, euphoria and Re'em blood for strength. Then it came to him,

"A depression potion? And a strong one at that. Since when have you been taking this? When your father died?"

"Forget it, at least now I know it was in fact Potter who went through my room. It's my own fault for not sealing my window properly. Let's go before they come looking for something."

Snape nodded in agreement and they made their way to Ravenclaw House at the other end of the castle. As they were walking Snape couldn't help but wonder how seriously Lily was affected by her father's death if she began taking such a strong anti-depressant. Suddenly Lily's reaction made sense but was it healthy for her to constantly be doped up on such a strong mood enhancer?

Their stay in Ravenclaw was short. They had to capture bookmarks out of the beaks of ravens, a whole flock of which attacked them as soon as they stepped into the Ravenclaw common room. They both hopped on a broom each and captured a bookmark. As they left Ravenclaw house Lily said,

"Wow a searcher! This has to be the most amazing thing we've found yet!"

"Really, is that what these are, I thought they were just bookmarks with runes and constellations on them."

"No I'm sure of it, I've been dying for one. Well every student would love one of these, but they're so darn expensive only researchers and famous authors can afford them! Just think about it, all we have to do is ask and the bookmark will find the information we need in the book. Essays will torture my hands with paper cuts no more!"

As she said this Lily turned and smiled brightly in Snape's direction. His heart jumped in his chest. Lily looked so good when she smiled but was the bubbly-ness Lily or the potion?

"So where are we headed, the runes classroom or the Astronomy tower."

Lily replied,

"Astronomy tower, the Runes classroom was glowing, means it's out-of-bounds, let's go go go!"

In the Astronomy Tower they found a telescope already pointing to a constellation. Both of them checked and agreed that it was Orion.

"That's strange I didn't know Orion could be seen this time of year."

"Isn't Orion associated with our birth month, January?"

Lily nodded in agreement and then looked up for a few minutes without saying anything. Snape looked at the runes and tried to figure out what to do. When he couldn't figure it out himself he asked,

"Uh Lily, what do we do now?"

Lily snapped out of her musings and walked over to the table with several runes on it. She scanned the runes several times and said,

"They don't say anything, but, these ones spell out Orion."

Lily grabbed several runes and arranged them in order so they spelled out Orion. The runes left over were "als" "th-eh" and "str".

"Als-theh-st-r?"

"Maybe we have to rearrange them like we did Orion."

Snape felt that was likely and tried to rearrange them but nothing made any sense.

"St-r-als-theh?"

"Maybe it's in another language?"

"No Lily. Maybe we weren't supposed to remove Orion."

Then he saw it!

"Thestrals, that's what the runes spell out! Come on we have to go outside."

"Wait what? Thestrals? It's thestrals? What are thestrals?"

Snape dragged Lily out of the castle and made their way to where the carriages were.

"Why are we here?"

"The carriages don't pull themselves, they are actually pulled by thestrals, you just can't see them."

"If you can't see them how do you know they're there."

"Well I can see them, and you can feel them if you bump into one."

"How come you can see them and I can't?"

"It's a long story. Now what do we do? These thestrals aren't harnessed and they are watching us, like they are waiting for us to do something. And they have saddles on so I think we are supposed to ride them."

"Wait hold on, what are they, how can we ride them, why would we, and what?"

Snape smiled and turned to Lily who was obviously panicking.

"Relax. They are kind of like horses with wings."

"Wings? Why do we have to ride them?"

"Well they don't usually have saddles on so I'm assuming that is what we do. Maybe they are going to take us somewhere."

"Yes alright but how am I supposed to ride something I can't see?"

"Just think of it like a broom, an invisible broom. It can't be any worse that riding bucking brooms or being attacked by ravens."

"Yeah, I suppose that was practice for this. Well help me on then!"

Snape helped Lily up on her thestral but she was too scared.

"I can't do this, it's too weird I feel like I'm floating. Ride with me!"

"Lily trust me you will be fine."

"No I will not. I demand you ride with me! Please?"

Snape couldn't help but chuckle at how frightened she was.

"Alright, just calm down."

Snape climbed onto the same thestral as Lily and sat in front of her, holding the reins.

"Hold on tight Lily."

She did as she was told and Snape thoroughly enjoyed having Lily's arms around him. The thestral took off and they began to fly in the direction of Hogsmede.

"This is so weird."

"I would have thought you were used to heights by now Lily, considering all the time you spend on a broom."

"Well this is a right bit different. I have control of a broom and its steadier, no offense."

Lily spoke in the direction she assumed the thestral's head was.

"Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you Lily."

Lily didn't respond, she just held on tighter to Severus and they said nothing else to each other until the thestral landed on a sidewalk.

"Where are we?"

Snape answered,

"Well I was looking down and I think we are on the outskirts of Hogsmeade."

They are in front of a large house whose front door was open.

"Well I'm guessing we go in there, right?"

Snape nodded in agreement and the two slowly walked into the house. It was empty, nothing but bare walls and carpet, not a piece of furniture or anything indicating whose house this was or why they were there.

Lily looked around then said,

"Do you think one of the teachers has a house out here? But why isn't there any furniture?"

"I don't know let's have a look around and see what we can find."

Snape and Lily began going from room to room looking for some sort of clue. After 15 minutes of searching they found a door that seemed to lead to the basement but it was locked. After attempting every spell they knew of to open doors and even Lily's wall trick Snape decided that there must be a key.

"We never found a key."

"Maybe we missed a clue, you know skipped a step."

"Maybe the key is in the house and it's magically hidden and we have to find it."

"Wouldn't it be easier to hide the key in a house full of things though?"

"Maybe, but this way it must be hidden really well, magically, rather than in a box or something."

Snape shrugged and said,

"It'll be more difficult to go back and figure out what we missed, if we in fact did miss something, so our best bet is to look around here, besides it's almost dawn."

Lily nodded and they split up. After half an hour of pressing their hands against walls and tapping stairs, Lily and Snape sat in the front entrance, exhausted.

"Maybe you were right Severus, we must have missed a clue that led us to a key."

"Well it's too late now the sun is almost up."

"I guess we'll take the thestral back but can we rest a bit, I can't move anymore, tonight has been horrid."

Severus nodded yes and laid down on his back. Just then the wind picked up and blew into the house causing goosebumps to appear all over both Lily and Snape.

"Gosh it's freezing!"

Lily shivered and slammed the front door shut with her wand. As she closed the door Snape heard a ringing sound and turned towards the noise. It came from the door. There on the back of the door were two keys on hooks. Lily and Snape looked at each other and jumped up.

"How did we forget to check the back of the damn door? UGH!"

Just as Lily grabbed the keys however, a loud gong was heard and it rippled throughout the streets of Hogsmeade. They knew that was the notice that time was up as the sun could be easily seen shining brightly over the horizon.

Lily groaned loudly and cursed. Snape was taken aback, he had never heard Lily swear like that before.

"I can't believe it! We were probably close too, I bet there was one last test in the basement! Oh well I'm sure we got pretty far."

Thoroughly upset, Lily climbed back onto the thestral and they made their way back to Hogwarts.

When they reached the Great Hall, most of the groups were already gathered and talking amongst themselves about how far they got and what prizes they won. Some sleepy students who had not participated or given up earlier in the night and gone to sleep, were making their way to the Great hall from their dormitories. At the front of the Great Hall with Dumbledore were the Slytherin girl and Ravenclaw boy who had participated as a couple.

"Yes congratulations! Although no one made it to the end, this team seems to have made it the furthest the most quickly."

As Dumbledore announced this several groups groaned in disappointment including Lily.

"Now despite the fact that they did not make it all the way it only seems fitting that they claim the first prize, not only the trip to France but the final prize in the Hunt."

Dumbledore walked away from the proudly smiling couple and stood behind a pedestal with a sheet over it. A box could be seen underneath the folds of the sheet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the final prize for the Hunt!"

Every person in the room eagerly leaned in hoping to get a glimpse of whatever it was.

With a flourish Dumbledore removed the sheet only to reveal an empty glass box. The Headmaster looked down, surprised and then began scanning the crowd.

"Who was it!"

Dumbledore yelled out into the crowd and began looking around as a murmur grew in the Great Hall.

"Who found the keys to the house in Hogsmeade?"

Snape and Lily looked at each other and cautiously raised their hands. Dumbledore saw Lily's hand and stared at her and Snape for a few moments before saying,

"Come up here please."

Aware of the hundreds of eyes on them Snape and Lily made their way to the Front of the Great Hall.

"Where are the keys?"

Snape and Lily obediently took out the keys they found hanging in the back of the door in the house in Hogsmeade.

"Well what a turn of events! It seems someone did make it to the end of the Hunt, but why didn't the siren go off when you opened the door to the basement?"

"Oh that, we never got to open the door, we ran out of time."

Lily smiled weakly and apologetically.

"Is that so? Well never mind, you have the keys and you obviously made it there first. Congratulations you are the winners!"

Lily was in shock and so, apparently, was the rest of the student body.

"I'm sorry sir but are you certain?"

Dumbledore looked down at Lily and was apparently surprised she wasn't happier.

"Of course I am! The house is the final prize so whoever found the keys, and there was only one set of keys, would be the winners and the rightful owners of the house."

At this point the Slytherin girl interjected,

"But they aren't even of age, they can't own a house!"

Dumbledore looked shocked again and turned to Slughorn who was staring at Snape and Lily.

"Well, yes I suppose you are right. I will keep technical possession of the house until they come of age, when is that by the way?"

Snape answered,

"Both our birthdays are in January."

"That isn't too far off at all, in fact it couldn't be sooner. There problem solved. Again congratulations!"

Dumbledore clapped and everyone followed suit. Lily tried to smile but at the moment she was public enemy #1. Having teamed up with a Slytherin had already made her unpopular with her classmates, but having won, she also aroused their jealousy. Snape stood next to Lily and showed no emotion as members of the press took their picture and the Minister for Magic shook their hands. When the formalities were over Dumbledore quieted the hall to say a few more words.

"Well the Hunt has officially ended and I cannot say how happy I am that a team has made it to the end. That said this will only be the beginning for them, as they both own the house equally. I'm sure most of you learned how hard it is to negotiate in teams but also how important it is. For those of you wishing you had won the house; do reconsider. If you had won, would you have been able to negotiate its ownership with your teammates, teammates you may have picked for their magical know-how rather than them being of compatible personality? The Hunt was about more than testing your magical skills and winning prizes; it was meant to bring students together and help us as a school, as a community, to work together towards a common goal. I am very pleased with the outcome and may try this again another year, with some improvements of course. Breakfast will be served shortly if you wish to stay awake a bit longer to eat. Now I am certain everyone is very tired so without further adieu, I bit you all a good sleep."

With that Dumbledore stepped down from the podium and shook Lily and Snape's hands again saying,

"How wonderful that you two have won, yes indeed."

He was followed by several other congratulators including much of Gryffindor house, although some were more reluctant than others and most ignored Severus.

"Well Snivellus, you finally have a house, you must be over the moon!"

Snape glared at Potter and saw that Lily was doing the same.

"We could have gotten there first but we got bored."

Lily rolled her eyes and said,

"Right!"

"It's true, we found a shortcut, isn't that right Headmaster?"

"Yes, the kitchen was a short cut, although you did have to find a way to bake those muffins without having gathered the ingredients."

Snape turned to Dumbledore and asked,

"I thought the original riddle was referring to the Whomping Willow but when we went over there all we found was the Whomping Willow, with a yellow ribbon that is."

Dumbledore stared at Snape for a few moments before saying,

"How very perceptive Mr. Snape. Yes that was also a shortcut. It was a dangerous one of course. You would have had to remove the yellow ribbon from the Whomping Willow and the thestrals would have come to you."

Both Lily and Snape looked at each other and groaned. Lily said,

"We should have known! But I guess in the end it was better, we got tons of cool things like the bookmark!"

Just then a group of Slytherins came up to Snape, Lily moved back slightly, towards Lupin. It was the first time since his revelation that Snape saw Lupin. He was staring at Lily but she wasn't looking back, she was taking furtive glances at Mulciber and the other Slytherins.

"Nice going Snape, didn't know you had it in you."

"Now Mulciber, it wasn't all him. Evans must have helped, who knew she was so quick?"

Rosier's remark made the other Slytherins burst out into laughter much the way Potter's comments about Snape had caused giggles to break out among the female congregation. Lily said nothing, instead she walked away and began talking to Slughorn and one of his connections.

"I guess if you won it was worth bailing on us Snape, but you missed an awesome party."

Mulciber winked at Snape and laughed, then he and the others left for the dorms, obviously worn out after a night of… whatever they considered partying.

As much as he wanted to do the same, Snape and Lily were asked to have breakfast with the minister and several other important people including Slughorn who was gushing about Lily whenever an opportunity arose.

By the time the minister and the press left it was nearly 9 in the morning and Lily looked about ready to drop dead. Snape excused them from any further celebration and Slughorn reluctantly agreed to let them go only when Snape mentioned that they were injured and that Lily should get some medical attention.

After walking Lily up to her dormitory Snape stumbled to his own room through strangely empty hallways. When he got his room the others were already snoring. Remembering only to seal the pouch Lily had given him for the hunt and where some of his prizes were housed, Snape passed out onto his bed fully clothed. As his eyes fell shut, Snape relived the events of the night. Again and again he heard the same words swirling in his head,

"Don't you want to hear more Mr. Snape?"


	18. My Own Protection

Chapter 18: My Own Protection

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

iiiiiiiiiii

Everyone got a late start Sunday morning as most of the school had been up the previous night for the Hunt. When Severus came down for dinner after just waking up, he found an oddly cheerful Lily sitting on her own at the Gryffindor table. It would be normal for her to be happy about winning but considering that most of her house was shunning her, Snape felt Lily was smiling a bit too widely. Snape grabbed some food off the Slytherin table and walked towards Lily, trying to get her attention. When Lily saw Snape motioning towards her, she grabbed her things, got up and left the Great Hall with him.

"Morning Lily."

"Oh yeah, I guess you just woke up."

"Why how long have you been up?"

"I only slept a few hours. I was writing my mom about the house!"

Snape and Lily were walking up towards their 7th floor investigation room.

"I know you're excited but you should have tried to get a bit more sleep."

"I'm alright, I'm sure I'll sleep better tonight."

Lily smiled and paced up and down the hall to make the door to the Room of Requirement appear. When they were inside, they sat down and began looking through newspapers for news about Lattimer or any other strange occurrences. Snape watched Lily. Something was off about her, she didn't seem… like her normal self.

"Lily are you still taking those anti-depressants?"

Lily looked up and the smile fell off her face.

"Right, it's just us two, I forgot I don't have to pretend."

The change on Lily's face made Snape worry, how bad were things really?

"Hey Snape did you see the Hunt list?"

Lily handed Snape a long piece of parchment. On it were all the clues and the goals for all the grade levels. They had of course exceeded their level's expectations but he also noted that the expectations were quite low, perhaps because Dumbledore knew not all teams would have members from all four houses.

"You wouldn't believe the blacklash. Not just me, the Hufflepuffs are being called dirty. I guess all the lint bunnies in the couches made some people mad. They were hard to climb I guess. Some people in your house think some people didn't return some of the objects they took from the room. Don't worry I repaired the cushion and returned it."

Snape laughed and said,

"I expected nothing less. The world is full of sore losers. How is Potter taking you going through his room?"

Lily rolled her eyes and said,

"He wants to have you expelled of course. He thinks you went in yourself while I was busy with the brooms. I just said he has no proof and if he wants to accuse either of us of anything he would need some. The nerve he has after going through my room!"

Lily and Snape spent some time organizing their prizes from the Hunt. Snape noticed he had all the ingredients he needed for the Felix Felicis potion.

"Hey Lily I have to work on some stuff. Let me know if you find anything okay?"

Lily looked up from her paper suspiciously.

"Why, what do you need to do?"

"Nothing, just an extra potions assignment I'm working on, I'm tweaking a potion. I'm going to check on it. "

"You're not going to fix up your friends after another night of "partying" are you?"

Snape was walking towards the door but stopped.

"Why is there something in the paper? Did they do something?"

Snape ran over to Lily and grabbed the paper from her hands and began scanning it. Lily took it back and said,

"No there isn't anything. They covered their tracks this time don't worry."

"Lily why must you assume the worst of them? As far as I know they didn't do anything wrong last night, they probably just drank themselves to sleep."

Lily just said,

"Um hum."

And continued scanning the paper, ignoring Snape. As he was in no mood to have another conversation about his housemates, Snape left and made his way to the dungeons where he was planning on brewing the Felix Felicis. When he entered the storage room Snape immediately began setting up his ingredients. He didn't expect to get it right the first time, the potion looked very tricky, but the further he pushed his skills the better he would get.

It took him nearly 2 hours to set everything up and get the potion going. So far nothing looked off, he would have to let it simmer. Exhausted but happy with his progress, Snape left the storage room and started towards his dorm, intent on taking a long, hot shower.

When he entered the common room he saw a large congregation of students sitting on the floor and couches, all looking up at Mulciber who was speaking.

"Ah, Snape so nice of you to join us."

"What are you guys doing, having a pow-wow?"

Mulciber walked to Snape and stood behind him.

"No we were just discussing the muggle studies program here at Hogwarts. We feel it is… lacking certain aspects."

Snape didn't like where this was going. They were all looking at him, waiting for a reaction.

"And what exactly do you feel it's missing?"

"We don't feel it accurately portrays muggles and their technology. What they really use it for, how they really behave. You've lived around muggles. What do you think?"

"Well, I've never taken muggle studies so I don't know what they teach. But what I do know is, like with wizards, there is a great deal of variation in muggles, some good some bad, some smart and some stupid."

When he said the former Snape made a point of staring at Mulciber. In response he smiled and let out a short laugh.

"That may be, that may be. But they don't seem suited to magic at all. I mean take your friend Lily for example. When she returned the cushion, she left the cauldron inside, so when I sat down I got a nasty surprise."

Snape couldn't help but laugh,

"I'm pretty sure she did that on purpose. Besides I'm fairly sure she is one of the only students that didn't take something valuable from the room."

"It shows she's stupid."

Rosier spoke up for the first time,

"No it shows she isn't greedy. Nor did she bother snooping around. Well she says she's been in here before anyways."

This bit of news seemed to startle Mulciber, Rosier and Avery. The three of them looked at each other and then Mulciber turned to Snape and asked,

"What do you mean? She broke into Slytherin house? When? Why?"

Seeing their reaction, Snape decided to press his advantage and try to get some answers. Maybe he'd find out what Lily was keeping from him and what his housemates were up to.

"Break in? It isn't really possible to do that, you either have the password or you don't and I certainly never gave it to her. Which means either someone else did, or she snuck in behind someone while disapperated, or… someone else let her in."

Snape walked behind Mulciber, mimicking Mulciber's attempts to scare him earlier.

"You wouldn't know anything about that would you? After what happened with Mary, I figured you'd be more careful."

Mulciber turned to Snape, his face was emotionless, all the shock and worry was gone. Perhaps he had missed the mark on this one.

"I don't know what you mean Snape. I'd never let that mudblood anywhere near such a sacred place."

Snape saw that he'd learn nothing more here. He forgot about the shower and decided it was best to leave for a while given the situation. Snape walked back into the corridor and considered that maybe Lily had gone on Dumbledore's orders, he would know the passwords. It was bugging him, Snape wanted to know what was going on so he went back up to the Room of Requirement to ask Lily about it.

When he got upstairs he found that Lily was gone. It was nearly curfew after all.

"You just missed her."

Snape turned towards the direction of the voice but there was no one there. Snape took out his wand.

"Who said that?"

"I did. On the wall."

Snape looked and saw a man in a painting waving at him. Snape walked over to the painting and asked,

"Lily was just here? Did she find anything out by any chance?"

"I'm not sure but she was certainly asking me a lot of questions."

"You? Why?"

"Because I'm the Great Perseus."

iiiiiiiiiii

November was getting off to a chilly start. With the excitement of the Hunt over and midterm marks in, most of the students were gearing up for finals. Everyone was determined to bring up their grades and spent most of their day inside studying, which became easier to do as the weather became steadily cooler. As the first frost came in and gripped the castle in a sheet of dewy ice it seemed to also freeze Lily. Snape wasn't sure if it was because she had stopped taking her anti-depressant potions or because they weren't working as effectively anymore but a change in Lily was clear.

Snape saw his own sullen expressions reflected on Lily's delicate features. She was no longer an active participant in classes nor did she get into petty fights with Potter and her friends about proper wand technique. Everyone noticed it and everyone looked to Snape as the cause. The truth was Snape had no idea what happened. He remembered Lily was cold but still able to joke the morning after the Hunt but that was the last time he saw Lily smile.

November passed smile-less. On December 1st Snape went over the possible reasons in his mind as he had every single day, several times a day in November. Was it her father's death finally taking root as she stopped taking her anti-depressants? Had she broken up with Lupin? Did she discover something about Lattimer she didn't share with Snape? Did his housemates say something to her that evening? Did something the fairy said in the maze get to her? Something didn't make sense about each of those possibilities. And worse was that Lily showed no signs that she was getting better. Each morning Lily appeared duller, paler, as though she was fading away.

Snape had thus far been unable to break her out of her melancholy and with no new information regarding Lattimer he found it difficult to make up an excuse to spend time with her when she seemed so reluctant. And it wasn't just him she was avoiding.

As Snape walked into ancient runes behind Lily and watched her sit down he noticed she didn't look so bad today. He got up the nerve and went up to her.

"Hey Lily."

She looked up but said nothing.

"I just thought I'd remind you about our trip to France. We need to get a bunch of stuff ready, with the ministry and travel arrangements and all that. So… if you have some time, we should do that."

Lily nodded her head once and suddenly looked very tired. She turned her head away and Snape went back to his seat. As he watched her, Lily's shoulders dropped and she laid her head on the desk. Fateen was next to her and looked concerned but did nothing. The hollow look in Lily's eyes haunted Snape every night in his sleep. Each time he awoke he felt as though he just forgot something very important, that he knew what was wrong with Lily but it slipped from him, leaving him frustrated.

iiiiiiiiiii

Later that day Snape and Lily were standing together in the headmaster's office. Their heads of house were also there along with Dumbledore and someone Snape assumed was from the ministry.

"Well, I'm sure you both have been in anticipation of your trip to France all month long!"

As the ministry official looked at Snape and Lily's expressions his excitement faded somewhat.

"Well, I… that is, the time is almost here. As soon as your exams are over you will be leaving, by portkey, and arriving in Paris. You will be on the Beauxbatons premises."

Getting no response from either of the students, the official looked to Dumbledore.

"Yes well let me remind you that you are representing Hogwarts and England while you are at this convention so we are all expecting exceptional behavior from each of you."

When Dumbledore said his Lily smirked and scoffed. This simple gesture was noticed by everyone and caused an unnatural amount of tension in the room.

"Is something wrong Miss Evans?"

Lily, who was staring at the desk thus far, raised her gaze and looked into Dumbledore's eyes.

"No Professor."

Lily's voice sounded hoarse from lack of use but carried well. Even Professor McGonagall looked worried. Dumbledore simply nodded and dismissed them.

"Oh, Mr. Snape would you stay behind for a moment?"

Snape turned back towards the headmaster and nodded. Beside him Lily tensed then opened the door with excessive vigor. She left without looking back. When they were alone, Dumbledore asked Snape to take a seat.

"Mr. Snape you may have noticed a change in Miss Evans."

Snaoe nodded.

"So have the staff and much of the student body. Now it is understandable given what happened to her father but the reaction seems delayed. She was recovering well and then suddenly took a turn for the worse. What do you make of it?"

"I thought it was strange too but I assume she stopped taking her anti-depressant potions and that she is not doing as well on her own."

"Anti-depressants potions? Madam Pomfrey never prescribed her anything of the kind and there are no records of her going to St. Mungo's."

"Really? Do you think she brewed the Demersa potions herself?"

"Demersa potions? They are incredibly strong, and difficult to brew even for the most talented 6th year."

"The thing is, I've seen recipes for other variations of the Demersa potion but not the one Lily had: draught of peace, Re'em blood and elixir to induce euphoria with peppermint. Nowhere does a recipe include all of those ingredients, it is almost as though she personalized it. Problem is I attempted to brew that combination but I haven't yet figured out how to do it. If you put the Re'em blood in first it cooks and hardens, if you add the peppermint before the powdered moonstone dissolves the potions separates in layers. No matter what I try, I can't get that pearl purple liquid."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair.

"I have never heard of such a potion either. Pearl purple? Very strange. Anti-depressants usually take on bright colours, oranges, yellows and neon colours. Are you certain that is what they were?"

"That is what she _accioed_, Demersa potions."

"Perhaps she did not list all the ingredients."

"That may well be Professor."

"So other than potential withdrawal from Demersa potions, you can think of nothing that would make Miss Evans behave this way? No encounters with some of your housemates?"

Snape looked at Dumbledore suspiciously and answered,

"No, not that I know of."

"Did anything strange happen during the Hunt?"

"Plenty. What do you mean by strange?"

"Anything that seemed to upset or anger Miss Evans?"

"The maze was a bit of a trip."

"Am I safe in assuming you encountered the sirens?"

"Is that what they were? I did anyways, so I'm assuming Lily did as well."

Dumbledore got up and began walking towards a table with a mirror on it.

"The sirens are tricksters. They tell the truth but a warped version, half truths. They expect people to make assumptions, they lead them to believe their suspicions to be true and drive them mad. They were there to test the trust between the teammates."

Snape thought back to that day, trying to remember exactly what they said. Lily and Lupin were in the maze before the Hunt and they were… he was on top of her. That isn't something that could be mistaken although it was enough to drive him mad.

"Sometimes the truth itself can drive people mad Professor."

Dumbledore nodded,

"Yes. Indeed it can. You may go Mr. Snape, unless you have anything to discuss with me?"

Snape hesitated for a moment but felt this was as good an opportunity to ask as he was going to get.

"Did you ever ask Lily to go into the Slytherin dormitory? Perhaps give her the password so she could search and find out what the Slytherins were doing?"

Dumbledore turned and peered curiously at Severus.

"That would be a serious abuse of my authority here at Hogwarts. Not to mention if I felt I had to go that far, it would be putting Miss Evans in a great deal of danger."

"Well she said she had been in the common room before, that during the Hunt wasn't the first time. I certainly never brought her there and I doubt my housemates would. I figured maybe you asked her to go in."

"No Mr. Snape, I never demanded that of Lily nor did I ever provide her with any information that would allow her to do so."

Snape nodded and got up, he turned to go but before he left he said,

"If you're worried about Lily perhaps you should ask someone closer to her."

"Closer to her? Who might that be?"

"Her friends and Lupin."

"I assumed _you_ were her friend Mr. Snape and why would I ask Mr. Lupin of all people?"

"From what I know they, dated… for a while. I'm not sure if that is still the case."

Behind him Snape heard Dumbledore sit at his desk.

"Mr. Lupin? Are you certain?"

Snape turned his head and nodded before leaving. Snape closed the door behind him and moved to walk down the stairs but then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Snape jumped back. Lily was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and eyes closed. It seemed like she was waiting for him. Snape looked back at the door.

"Did you… hear everything?"

Lily opened her eyes and looked at Snape. She looked weary and in pain.

"Lupin?"

Snape shifted his feet uncomfortable and looked away from Lily.

"I found out during the hunt. The sirens told me you and him were in the maze before the hunt, that you were… together."

Lily scoffed the same way she did in Dumbledore's office which prompted Snape to look back at her. She was looking to the side and biting her lip. Then Lily turned back to Snape, her expression was bitter and mocking.

"It wasn't Lupin."


	19. Shelter from the Storm

Chapter 19: Shelter from the Storm

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: I'm so glad people are enjoying the story! I'm also having fun writing it. I'm seriously considering an anniversary chapter. Check out my profile for more information and updates.

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Lily uncrossed her arms and pushed herself off the wall. As she started walking down the stairs, Snape followed.

"Hey! What do you mean? Explain."

Lily looked back and said,

"Not here."

Snape realized they were in a high traffic hallway and followed Lily back up to the 7th floor. When they were once again in the Room of Requirement, Snape stood by the door, confused and frustrated. Lily nonchalantly walked to the side of the desk and sat on it's edge facing the painting of Perseus.

"What do you mean it wasn't Lupin?"

Lily was slightly turned away from Severus, her hair fell and hid her face. She propped one leg on a chair so that it was no longer concealed beneath her long cloak. She was wearing a pair of high heels which slimmed and lengthen her smooth legs. Snape's fixed gaze was broken by Lily's voice.

"You're so easy."

That wasn't what Snape was expecting.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

Lily turned her head slightly but not so much that Snape could see her face.

"What exactly did the sirens say?"

"That you were in the maze just before the Hunt, and that someone was on top of you."

"And why did you assume Lupin of all people?"

Snape thought about it, the siren, she never actually mentioned Lupin but…

"She said you didn't care that Lupin was a werewolf, that it didn't change how you felt about him."

Lily laughed.

"And it didn't. I don't see how that means it was Lupin I was with."

"Well I just assumed, since out of the Marauders you spoke most highly of him."

As he spoke Snape was drawn closer to Lily, not knowing why. Perhaps he was hoping it was all a lie but perhaps he also feared Potter's name would come up.

"Assumptions are dangerous, I thought you knew that."

Snape was now next to Lily and she slightly slide away from him.

"So then, what exactly happened?"

This question was met with silence. Snape waited, not knowing if he should press it or let Lily gather her thoughts. After a minute Snape saw that Lily was shaking slightly. She lowered her head and a single sob left her mouth before she covered her lips with one hand and gripped the edge of the desk with the other. Despite her attempts to stifle the sound, Snape could tell Lily was crying. Not knowing what else to do, Severus brushed Lily's hair out of the way so that he could see her face. Tears were streaming down both her cheeks and her eyes were already swollen and red. Snape pinned Lily's hair behind her ear. When she felt Snape finger tips Lily froze and looked at Snape, the back of her hand still pressed tight over her mouth. Seeing Lily cry put Snape on some sort of autopilot, he had to make her stop, to make it better. Snape stepped in front of Lily and moved her hand from her mouth. He cupped her face with both hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Lily still shook slightly and inhaled sharply every now and then as she calmed down. Snape too was on the verge of tears, he was so afraid to ask.

"Lily, what happened?"

When he said this, Lily broke eye contact with Snape and brushed his hands off her face. She wiped her eyes and tried to move away from Snape but he stopped her by resting both hands on the desk and pinning Lily in between. Lily tensed up.

"Answer me."

Lily looked at Snape and saw that he was serious. She sat back on the edge of the desk turned her head to the side, using her hair to block her eyes from view.

"I… I don't really remember all that well."

Snape gave an exasperated sigh and lowered his head.

"I really don't! I've been trying… for over a month… I've been trying to piece it all together."

Angry, Snape said,

"Who are you trying to protect?"

"What? No one. I just. This has nothing to with Potter, well that's not what happened."

Lily wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her head.

"The truth is, I've been having blackouts ever since that day we investigated the clock tower. At least I think that's when it started. You did collapse like I said but… there is a 15 minute window between when you climbed the ladder and when I called Dumbledore, during which I have no memory. At first I thought maybe you did something and that we hexed each other."

"I highly doubt I would randomly hex you Lily."

"Well something happened and I… don't know what."

"Alright what does that have to do with what happened the day of the Hunt?"

"I had another blackout. I was starting to think Dumbledore was involved somehow, I often had them after seeing him in his office. I didn't know if it was a coincidence or not. But that day, when I came to, I was in front of the Slytherin common room."

"Inside?"

"No in the hallway but not more than a minute after I came to, a bunch of your friends came running out of the common room. They were asking me for something but I was still so disoriented, I… I don't know what they were talking about. One of them grabbed me so I hexed him and ran. I guess I panicked."

"You ran into the maze?"

Lily nodded.

"I wasn't thinking, I was just running and I wasn't really sure why. They split up, I took what I later found out was the shortest way and only Rosier was behind me. There were four of them in the hall, I suppose they left whoever I hexed behind and each took a different route."

"What did he do?"

Lily started crying again, not sobbing, just tear after tear fell down her cheeks.

"Gravity changed. I couldn't run, I had to crawl but he was faster than me and I was… so dizzy."

Snape remembered when the siren said,

_She was here, oh yes she was. They were here together, he was on top of her and oh the sounds she was making!_

"He caught you. What did… did he?"

Lily let out a bitter laugh.

"That's what I thought at first but he was looking for something. He thought I had something."

Again Snape remembered, _she wasn't alone or nearly as dressed._ He looked at Lily, anger flooded through him and his blood stung inside his veins. His knuckles turned white as they gripped onto the edge of the table.

"I guess because of magic, I forgot how physically weak I am. When he realised I didn't have whatever he wanted on me, well his thoughts turned elsewhere."

Snape clenched his teeth and silently prayed that it wasn't true.

"Lil did he? Please I need to know."

Lily shook her head no but Snape was too scared to relax.

"I'm sure he wanted to and that he would have, he got further than I'd like to admit but we were interrupted. Never thought Potter following me would ever come in handy."

"Potter?"

"Him and Lupin showed up out of nowhere. When Rosier saw them the first thing he did was, I'm not sure what spell it was but I felt pain run up my spinal cord and into my head. It hurt so much that I couldn't feel any of the cuts anymore. As soon as he got off me… I crawled a bit and the gravity changed again and I ran. I don't remember in what direction or why. It hurt so much so I just ran."

"What happened to Rosier?"

Lily shrugged.

"I was hoping Potter and Lupin would stall him long enough for me to get out of there, they could handle themselves and I wouldn't have been of any help anyways. Next thing I know something picked me up and dropped him in another part of the maze."

"The flowers?"

Lily weakly nodded yes.

"I was still, I can't explain what was happening to me. Images were flooding my mind and it hurt so, so much. I leaned up against something and it moved."

"The... siren?"

"Yes. But I hardly noticed her. I kept seeing things and… and the pain."

Lily clutched her head with both her hands and started to cry again. Snape wrapped his arms around Lily's waist, pressing her close to him. He held her that way for several minutes as she cried. In his mind Snape thanked Potter and Lupin, their existence did some good in this world. It was worth nearly being killed, no even if he was killed by Lupin that night. It wouldn't have mattered that Lupin and Potter got away with it, not if it protected Lily from something like that. When Lily calmed down Snape let go of her and asked,

"What happened afterwards, why didn't you tell me?"

Lily slid to the floor and hugged her legs to her chest, Snape followed and sat on the floor in front of her.

"I blacked out again, when I came to I was in the Great Hall and you had just arrived. "

Snape remembered the cold, blank look on Lily's face and what she said, that she had a bad feeling about that night.

"I wasn't sure what really happened and what didn't and how I, I was in different clothes and all my cuts were gone. So I just pretended, I didn't know what else to do."

Snape sighed and said,

"I guess Potter and them misunderstood, when the saw us fighting by the school bell. After what happened, they were probably looking for you, to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I can't tell you how many times Potter tried to bring it all up. I wish he'd stop, I don't need to be reminded."

"Is that why you've been acting this way? Not that it isn't understandable."

A few more tears slid down Lily's cheeks and she turned and let go of her legs so that she fell back sprawled on the floor. She sighed heavily and looked at the ceiling. Snape watched her from above.

"I wish that were all. But it's only gotten worse. The black outs continue and my memory is foggy at best. I keep replaying everything in my mind, in my dreams. The things I saw after Rosier cursed me, things that I'm not sure were ever in my mind."

Snape considered what she was saying. What kind of curse would Rosier cast at such a moment, what was so important?

"What kind of curse do you..."

"Memory."

Lily interrupted Snape with that one word.

"That's what I think he cast, a memory spell. That way no matter what Potter and Remus said, there'd be no proof of what he did but it might have been more than that. They still think I have something."

Snape remembered after the hunt, the rumours that something had gone missing from Slytherin.

_Did Lily go into the Slytherin dormitory and take something but now couldn't remember?_

"So you think he was trying to get rid of your memories, but it didn't work did it?"

"No, no Rosier isn't as competent as he thinks he is. Memory spells are tricky and trying one on the fly in that situation, it's no wonder he messed it up."

"Messed it up?"

"He didn't get rid of my memories, he gave me memories."

Lily shuttered and ran her hand through her hair before letting it fall limply.

"The things I kept seeing. They weren't my memories, they were his. I saw into Rosier's mind."

"What did you see Lily?"

Lily closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"I felt what he felt, what he wanted to do to me. I saw myself the way he saw me."

Lily laughed softly,

"It was pretty intense, who would have thought?"

"Lily that isn't funny."

When Snape said this, Lily opened her eyes and pulled herself off the floor so that she was face to face with Snape and sitting with her legs stretched out. Her school kilt was bunched up around her hips, covering no more than her bikini bottom did.

"Well, considering how disgusted you all are by mudbloods, it is a little funny that he'd be so attracted to me. But perhaps that's part of the attraction, the fact that he finds me disgusting."

"You aren't disgusting Lily, I… I don't know why we're talking about this."

Snape turned away and Lily did the same. She leaned her body against the side of the desk. After several minutes of silence she spoke again.

"I saw my father."

Snape turned his head towards Lily.

"What?"

"In Rosier's mind. I saw my father, just before he died."

Snape moved towards Lily and asked,

"Did Rosier do it?"

Lily nodded no.

"No it wasn't Rosier but I didn't see who did it either. I… I saw the killing curse hit him but not who did it, Rosier closed his eyes and turned away… he couldn't watch."

Lily gave another bitter laugh, one Snape had become accustomed to hearing come from Lily.

"Lily, I'm so sorry… that you had to see that. What… what can I do?"

Snape's voice had a pleading undertone and Lily seemed to have noticed it. She wiped her tears and turned to Snape with a small smile.

"No it's alright. Until then I often wondered what happened. You couldn't… all the ways I imagined him dying. But I was quick and painless, they didn't torture him at all, I guess at the time they didn't know who he was."

Seeing that Snape wasn't convinced she was alright Lily added,

"Maybe now I can see the thestrals, what do you think?"

"Lily don't joke for my sake, it's alright."

Snape stood up abruptly.

"Where are you going?"

"To kill Rosier."

Lily stood up too and grabbed Snape by the arm with both hands.

"No, Sev, don't. You'll just end up in Azkaban and I'll be alone in this."

"What do you expect me to do, sleep in the same room as him pretending it never happened?"

"You've been fine with it until now, despite everything they've been involved in."

"Yes but… this is different."

"How exactly? Please you can't just do something stupid just because you're angry."

Snape pulled his hand out of Lily's grasp and hit the desk in frustration.

"Let him go, a man must avenge his honour."

Lily turned to the painting and said,

"Quiet Perseus, you aren't helping! Don't give him an excuse!"

Angry and aggravated Snape asked,

"Who the hell is he anyways?"

Glad to turn the discussion in another direction, Lily walked over to the painting and answered,

"This is Perseus, he knows the Grey Sisters, outsmarted them once a long, long time ago. He knows all about them so I figured he'd be helpful, so did the Room of Requirement apparently. It brought him here from another part of the castle."

"What? Who are the Grey Sisters? The band?"

Lily gave a feeble smile.

"No not the band. The three old women in the painting in Lattimer's office."

"Oh, them. What about them?"

"They said they were guarding something. I think whatever it is Lattimer found is what they were guarding. The blacksmiths said Lattimer went to the Grey Sister first and then the goldsmiths asking if something was the real thing. He may have found what they were guarding."

"So how is he going to help?"

"Well we need information and the Grey Sisters have that information. He couldn't compel them to say anything probably because he threatened them but that painting is very well protected from what Perseus says. So instead we will have to try to get the information some other way. Perseus has already successfully done this. I figure we could learn something from him."

"The Grey Sisters are very clever and all knowing but they each have weaknesses."

Snape walked closer to Perseus and his painting and asked,

"Is that so? What kinds of weaknesses?"

"Well first they all share among them a single detachable eye and tooth."

"Excuse me? What?"

"Yes, only one can see at any one time… and eat."

"Alright how does that help us?"

"If you manage to steal their eye, you can barter it for information, they are always fighting over that damn eye. Pemphreda is the weak link, if she has the eye it will be easier to steal."

Snape thought about it, he remembered her saying something about not being easily fooled.

"Now it might be my memory but they all had eyes."

This time Lily answered.

"They aren't real, they were just painted in, only one of them has a true eye."

"How can we tell which one has a true eye and how do we steal an eye from a painting?"

Lily shrugged and said,

"That's where it gets tricky, we would have to get someone from another painting to do it and I don't think the Grey Sisters will be fooled by Perseus twice, even if it has been hundreds of years."

Snape considered all this information. He also remembered that the man in the painting had mentioned that Lily was asking him questions a few weeks ago.

"Well on top of that we would have to find a way to get over there, unless we leave the interrogating to someone in a painting too."

"I know it's complicated and a long shot Snape but it's the only lead we have. I never expected this to be easy, not when he's involved."

Snape nodded in agreement and sat in a chair. It was too much information to process, the anger from earlier was still running through him.

"I think I need to sleep, I need some time to process all this."

Lily nodded in agreement and they both got up. As Snape got up Lily stopped him.

"Wait, it's past curfew. Potter is just looking for an excuse to get you into detention or worse. Besides do you really think you can control yourself if you see Rosier?"

"Then what do you suggest Lily?"

"Sleep here. There's a bedroom off the bathroom, I guess the room knew we might need it. You can stay up here for a while, I think it would be a good idea."

Snape liked the idea as well…

"But what do I tell them?"

Lily just shrugged and started walking towards the door.

"I'm sure you can come up with something, tell them you're sick or something."

As she reached the door Lily turned and said,

"Night Sev."

When Lily was gone, Snape fell into a chair and held his head in his hands. It was unlikely he would get any sleep not with so much going through his mind. Above him Perseus whispered,

"You know what you have to do, don't you Mr. Snape?"


	20. Abandon Ship

Chapter 20: Abandon Ship

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: The next chapter will be a special anniversary chapter which is not part of the plot but works within the story. Oh this chapter made me so nostalgic, it would be so much more fun to write (and read) in December!

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Snape woke and was immediately aware of pain all over his body. He lifted his head but his vision was obstructed by something. He reached up and pulled the paper off his face. Snape had fallen asleep at his desk inside the Room of Requirement. Stiff from sleeping in a chair and sweaty from sleeping fully clothed, Snape decided a nice long shower was in order.

It had been simpler to convince his roommates than he had expected. Then again with exams coming up most students were up until the wee hours of the morning and he had overheard Madam Pince tell Mr. Flitch that she had found students in the morning asleep in the library. None of his housemates were particularly concerned and didn't ask any questions so Snape continued to sleep in the Room of Requirement. It was not easy to see Rosier around the school and not want to constantly kill him, but dealing with Potter for so many years had given Snape an incredible amount of restraint. Lily too seemed to deal with Rosier's presence with something more like disinterest, as though she wasn't bothered at all. She never acknowledged him nor did she purposely ignore him. As Snape watched Rosier over the past few days, he could see this disinterest confused and frustrated his roommate. Snape had told Lily that Rosier might make another attempt but she didn't seem concerned, either she had let out all her emotions during their talk or she had simply closed herself off to Snape once more.

Despite the remaining chill in their relationship Lily seemed physically more healthy.

"It's because Potter is too busy to torture me these days."

"Is he actually studying?"

Lily scoffed and flipped her hair as she and Snape turned into another stair landing on their way to Potions Wednesday afternoon.

"I wish. No, it's just that his mouth and hands are preoccupied with more important ventures these days."

As if on cue Potter and Mary came strolling down the hall towards the potions classroom hand-in-hand. Snape looked at Lily for a reaction and was surprised to see a scowl on her face.

"Well it isn't really surprising, they seem to match."

Lily said nothing in response and turned away. Snape followed her away from the crowd that was waiting for Slughorn to appear.

"I thought you'd be happy to have him out of your hair."

Lily turned around and looked tired.

"Why Mary of all people? She's my friend!"

"So you feel betrayed?"

"No, I'm just worried for her. I know what Potter's like and I don't want Mary to get hurt."

"Well, she's your friend so I'm sure she'll listen."

Lily sighed.

"That's the thing, I already tried. She thinks I'm jealous. Ha! Imagine that!"

"It's easy to misunderstand in this sort of situation, just give her some time."

"Why should I? Do you know what she said to me? That Potter didn't want me anymore after… after what happened and that I shouldn't bother trying to seduce him. As if!"

Snape glanced back at the couple. Mary was smiling widely and swung the hand that was holding Potter's back and forth. Potter on the other hand was acting cool and calm, almost uninterested.

"I think he's just trying to make you jealous."

"So do I, but its ruining mine and Mary's friendship not to mention what an awkward position Alice is in. I don't want this to turn into an ordeal so I'm just going to ignore them."

Snape nodded and looked around, where was Slughorn? The rest of the students seemed to notice his tardiness as well but Snape assumed he just hadn't finished lunch yet. And yet 20 minutes passed and still he was nowhere to be seen.

"Oi, Snape!"

Rosier called to Snape. Instead of walking over Snape yelled,

"What?"

"Go find that fat tub of lard. If we leave and he waddles down here he'll give us detention and I'm not particularly fond of spending my time in his office listening to him babble about his former students."

Snape was about to retort but someone was coming down the hall and it couldn't be Slughorn. Snape squinted and the rest of the students saw him peering and turned. Beside him Lily asked,

"Is that the headmaster?

Lily was right, as he came closer Snape could make out the long beard and crooked nose.

Once he arrived, Dumbledore stood in front of the potions classroom door and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Now you all may be wondering where Professor Slughorn is. I regret to inform you that the Professor will be taking a short leave of absence for personal reasons. Unfortunately he was in a rush and the staff has been unable to fill in the classes so I will be teaching potions classes and presiding over your examination. Rest assured that I achieved top marks in my potions NEWTs, not to brag, and am fully certified and qualified to teach the subject. Now if you will follow me inside..."

"Sir is Professor Slughorn alright?"

Dumbledore turned to Mary and answered,

"Yes, nothing to worry about. Of course the matters were urgent but he is fine. Now let us begin."

Lily and Snape looked at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking. As they filed into the potions classroom Snape could feel the questions pressing against the other students' minds. No one was focusing on review and as such no one was managing to watch both of their assigned potions except for Lily, Snape and a Ravenclaw.

As they stirred and measured, Lily and Snape passed notes back and forth.

_I told you we ought to have some sort of surveillance on Slughorn. I bet he made a run for it._

_We don't know that yet Sev. He might have some health issues… who knows?_

_Let's be serious Lily, we both knew eventually __he __would want to have a word with Slughorn. Being in the know about so many powerful people makes you a person of interest to someone like __him__._

_I know but he was safe at Hogwarts. Is there any safer place? Why would he leave?_

_Maybe he's joining up…_

_Sev!_

Here Lily stopped and made a face.

_I'm just saying it's a possibility. He is the head of Slytherin, maybe __he __offered Slughorn protection and an everyday all you can eat buffet._

Lily giggled and everyone turned and looked at her and Snape. Mary's eyes were going back and forth between Lily and Potter, who was staring straight ahead.

"Miss Evans, is there something you wish to share with the rest of the class?"

Snape immediately and stealthily incinerated the notes and tried to look nonchalant.

"Yes Professor. Severus and I were just speculating as to what might have happened to Professor Slughorn."

Snape nudged Lily and mouthed _what are you doing_?

"Perhaps you should focus on your review assignment instead."

"I've made Everlasting Elixirs successfully several times. Did the Professor perhaps leave to France ahead of time?"

"No, he was scheduled to leave at the same time as you and Mr. Snape but he may be delayed."

"Then will another teacher be assigned to chaperon?"

"Yes I'm sure we can arrange something."

Lily and Dumbledore stared at each other for a few more moments before a loud bang erupted at the back of the class.

"Miss Zelda Smith did you cut your shriveling fig before you dropped it in your potion?"

The Hufflepuff girl nodded no and Dumbledore walked over to her table and said,

"No? Always cut it first or else the potion will cause the fig to expand and explode. Miss Abbott will you please help Miss Smith get cleaned up?"

The two girls walked out of the room and Dumbledore glanced once more at Lily before returning to the front of the class.

When the class was over, Dumbledore hurried out of the room after collecting the students' Everlasting Elixirs. Despite the fact that both Lily and Snape's potions were the best in the class Dumbledore made no comment. All the students were busy packing their things. Lily and Snape were eager to get to the 7th floor and start trying to figure out what Slughorn was up to, not to mention they had piles of newspapers to get through. They were in such a hurry that neither one noticed Mary's displeased expression as she approached their desk.

"I bet you're just so pleased with yourself aren't you?"

Lily stopped packing and looked up at Mary. Snape watched Potter, he wasn't going to get involved in matters between women but if Potter started anything, he'd protect Lily.

"What do you mean Mary?"

"'I've made Everlasting Elixirs successfully several times Professor. Will Slughorn be joining us on our fabulous trip to _France_?'"

Mary said in a high mocking tone meant to imitate Lily, and putting a French accent on the last word.

"You just love rubbing it in don't you? Well guess what? No one cares!"

"That wasn't my intention. In fact, I can hardly recall mentioning the trip on any other occasion to you or anyone else since Halloween."

Mary scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Well I would be embarrassed about going anywhere with Snivellus, but it's not like anyone else would wanna hang out with you anyways. You don't have any other friends to brag to right?"

"I thought we were friends Mary."

Mary just looked Lily up and down and said,

"Whatever."

"Mary don't you think you're going a bit far? Lily hasn't done anything."

"Oh you would take her side Alice! What if she was trying to go after Frank? Well for all we know she already has."

Alice frowned and looked like she pitied Mary.

"You're being ridiculous. I seriously doubt Lily is trying to come between you and James, when has she ever done anything like that? Try and be reasonable."

"Don't tell me what to do. You just wait until she gets bored goes after your man. See whose being unreasonable then!"

Mary stormed out of the room and Alice followed after giving an apologetic glance in Lily's direction. James, Lupin and Black also slowly started to file out of the room but before they could leave Lily said,

"Why exactly does Mary think I've been trying to 'seduce' you?"

Potter turned towards Lily and meekly answered,

"I don't know. I tried to convince her otherwise but… I guess… after so many years."

"I see. By the way, Sirius I need to speak with you if you have some time tomorrow."

"Me? Right, I'm uhh… meeting Fateen after dinner anyways we can talk then."

Lily nodded and then all three made their way out of the room. Anyone who was still in the class was staring at Lily and so Snape decided it was best to gather their things and leave quickly. Lily had her head down and said nothing the whole way up to the Room of Requirement.

As Snape closed the door, Lily dropped into a chair. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Snape walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. When she felt his hand, she turned her head towards him.

"Don't worry Lily, she'll come around. I'm sure by the time we come back from the holidays she'll have her head on straight. Maybe a nice vacation in the Alps with Potter will convince her and ease her worries."

Lily nodded and got up, walking over to a pile of newspapers on the desk. Lily took out a golden bookmark and placed it on top of the newspapers. The bookmark sprang to life and started flipping through the newspapers.

"I honestly think this was the best prize, it's really helping us look for information, for classes and our… extracurricular activities."

Snape nodded in agreement, it would have taken forever to go through all these newspapers by hand.

"How are things here? Have everything you need."

Snape smiled slightly.

"Are you kidding me? This is way better than sharing a tiny room with three other guys. The bathroom is huge and always clean. I really can't complain."

"Have you packed?"

"A little."

"Well you should make a list now, you won't have much time once exams start."

"Yes and I'll make sure to check it twice."

"Did… did you just make a Santa Claus reference?"

Snape smiled and Lily laughed.

"Even grouchy Slytherins can get into the Christmas spirit Lily."

"So it seems."

Lily looked out the window where snow was slowly gliding from the sky. She walked over to the window and leaned on the window seat as she watched the snowflakes hit the glass. Snape walked up behind Lily and looked out too.

"This room isn't on an exterior wall, how does it have a window overlooking the courtyard?"

"Perhaps it's magical like the ceiling in the Great Hall."

"Humm."

Lily turned and sat on the window seat with her back to the window.

"So Mr. Snape what do you want for Christmas?"

Snape was startled by the question.

"You don't need to get me anything. Frankly your company is more than I could hope for."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"A few months ago I would have given up every Christmas and birthday wish for us to even just be civil with each other again. Now here is December and I'm going on a trip to France with you instead of spending Christmas alone at home. I really can't ask for anything more, it would be selfish really."

Lily stood and hugged Severus. She squeezed her arms progressively tighter around Snape's waist. Snape worried that his heart was beating so fast that Lily would be able to feel it through his thin skin.

"You are some kind of wonderful you know that Sev?"

Snape gave a weak laugh and wrapped his arms around Lily in response. As soon as he did Lily jumped back and said,

"Well I expect a present and I'm getting you something anyways so think of what you want."

Snape was still overcome with shock and was trying to get his heart rate to slow.

"I expect my gift or gifts to be thoughtful and inexpensive. Fattening foods are acceptable only if they are covered in or include chocolate and any clothing cannot look like it came from another century. I also accept homemade products and coupons for… oh I don't know things like one song or two hours of reading poetry."

"I am never singing in front of you."

"Oh come on! Please, your voice is so… soothing."

Snape stared at Lily with contempt and Lily in turn pouted her lips and batted her eyes in a comic fashion while holding her hands under her chin.

"I'll think about it."

"Yay! So you'll also think about what you want?"

"Uh yeah how about a coupon for a day of silence?"

Lily squinted her eyes and looked at Snape.

"Ha ha, very funny. I see what you're doing. Fine then but if you don't like your presents it's your own fault."

"No, seriously Lily you don't have to get me anything."

"Nonsense. Besides my mother would never allow it."

It was then that Snape remembered how big a deal Mrs. Evans made of Christmas every year. He would usually join the Evans for Christmas instead of going home and despite Petunia's constant death stares it was an enjoyable experience. Mrs. Evans cooked enough food to last until February and the house was decorated with all sorts of glittering bulbs and smelled of pine trees and muffins. The thought of it made Severus nostalgic and he almost regretted having to go to Paris during Christmas. Snape smiled and asked,

"Aren't you going to miss having Christmas at your house this year?"

Lily shrugged and responded,

"A little bit but when am I ever going to get another chance to spend Christmas in Paris? I hear it's beautiful."

Lily smiled to herself and twirled.

"Don't forget to pack your nicest dress robes for the banquet."

"What?"

"The Welcoming Banquet. All the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang who won their Hunt will be there along with officials and such."

"I don't have any dress robes."

"What? Well that is just not acceptable Mr. Snape. We'll go shopping this weekend then."

"Is it really necessary?"

"Uh yes! I won't have my date underdressed."

"Date?"

"Everyone is going to have a date. Why… you don't want to escort me to the Banquet?"

"No, of course, I mean it's fine. I just didn't know."

Lily looked at Snape suspiciously and asked,

"Did you look over our trip itinerary at all?"

"Our what?"

Lily smacked her hand on her forehead and shook her head in disbelief. On the desk the bookmark continued scanning the pile of newspapers.

iiiiiiiiiii

It was Sunday morning and Lily and Snape were pushing their way around a crowded Diagon Alley.

"Blimey, this is worse than the beginning of the year!"

Next to him Lily laughed and they took shelter is a somewhat isolated apothecary.

"Alright now that we have our money from Gringott's I say we buy your robes together, split up for our Christmas shopping, you have your list right?"

"Yes Lily and I.."

"Checked it twice yes ha ha, very funny. We will meet at lunch and eat at the Leaky Cauldron, if we can find a table, and then we can go off into muggle London for a few hours, have dinner and side-along apparate back before curfew. Agreed?"

Snape nodded and they made their way to the Second Hand Robe shop. Snape didn't mind shopping here but it was a bit embarrassing with Lily. He looked over at Lily who was flipping through a bunch of suit robes, she didn't seem to care but all the same…

"Here try these. I think its best we go classic rather than anything too fashion forward. A suit robe will give you a bit more presence."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're so thin you could apparate by accident."

Snape rolled his eyes but smiled and went into the change room. Severus came out and looked at himself in the mirror. They weren't too bad actually. The coattails were tasteful and the sleeves were long enough, of course it was baggy.

"Wow, Sev you look great! Here let me call the seamstress over."

Lily motioned towards the lady that had helped Snape with his robes at the beginning of the year. She smiled when she saw him.

"Ah I remember you. Came in with a woman this time huh?"

Lily cocked an eyebrow and looked between Snape and the sales witch while Snape looked away and pretended he didn't hear anything.

"My, my you've grown in just a few months! She must be feeding you well."

The sales witch winked and Snape blushed. When the witch was done and Snape came out of the change room in his own clothes Lily asked,

"Would you like to explain what that was all about?"

Snape just shook his head and quickly left after paying. From there the two of them split up and went about their shopping.

iiiiiiiiiii

It was lunchtime and Snape was waiting by the Leaky Cauldron for Lily. He had spent two and half hours buying some necessities and mostly, looking for a gift for Lily. He bought something for Lily's mother and even a little something for his parents, but he was stumped as to what to get Lily this year. He felt that he had to get her something amazing this year after what happened and on top of that, they would be in Paris, any gift would look slightly less impressive in a posh French hotel. Regardless of Lily's insistence that she didn't want anything expensive or impressive, Snape felt he had to get exactly that. He silently hoped that Potter wouldn't be getting her anymore jewelry or anything else this year, his gifts always seemed to one up anything Snape could come up with. He was dating Mary now, he should spend his money on her.

"Hey, Sev!"

Snape saw Lily waving to him from down the street.

"Sorry I'm late, the stores are mad. Let's eat!"

Lily and Snape managed to get a table as a group of old witches left. Squished in a corner Lily and Snape ate and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Throughout the room small angels were sprinkling confetti on people and the holly wreaths gave life to the usually dinky and dreary pub. As she ate and complained about the horrors of Christmas shopping, Snape found himself staring at Lily with a strange delight. Maybe it was the scent of cinnamon in the air or the chrysanthemum coloured lipstick she was wearing but Lily was hypnotizing today. And yet with all that inspiration, Snape could still not figure out what to get her.

They left the Leaky Cauldron and stepped onto the London streets which were only slightly less crowded. They walked around looking at the stores, listening to choirs singing carols on the streets and even ate a bag of roasted chestnuts they bought from a street vendor. It was like a perfect winter date and Snape felt himself being carried away in the atmosphere. Soon the sun was setting and the street lit with twinkling lights of every colour, creating a romantic ambiance that wasn't missed by any of the many couples happily walking hand in gloved hand. They had just passed a singing Santa when Lily slipped on a patch of ice. Snape caught her around the waist and pulled her up. Lily giggled nervously and straightened up.

"Sorry, I wasn't being careful."

"Don't worry about it."

Snape put his gloved hands over Lily's cheeks. When Lily tried to shake them off Snape said,

"Your cheeks are all red, you should keep warm, wouldn't want to get sick."

"Oh."

After a minute of standing together in close proximity a slight tension began to grow so Lily said,

"Why don't we go in and eat, we'll warm up there."

Snape reluctantly nodded in agreement and they walked over to a small restaurant. A short, plump middle aged waitress sat them down and handed them a set of menus.

"Would you like the holiday roast?"

"Oh yes that sounds lovely."

"We also have a special couple dessert if you're interested. It's chocolate lava cake topped with raspberry sauce and whipped cream."

Lily seemed excited but then she turned to Snape and said,

"You don't really like sweet things do you Sev?"

"Oh it's fine, as long as it isn't pecan pie."

Lily laughed and ordered the dessert. They didn't wait long for their dinner.

"Today was really nice, I've always wanted to do this."

"Yes it was, but will we regret it when we fail our exams?"

"Oh Sev don't be such a bookworm! You know you'll do fine. When have you ever gotten anything but top scores?"

"Well this might be the year I'll fall from grace."

"I doubt it. Most people are having trouble concentrating with everything that's going on."

Snape tensed as the conversation switched to that sad topic.

"Don't worry about that Lily, we can't keep carrying all the… unfortunate issues with us. We have to be able to continue enjoying life and living fully."

Lily nodded and ate another mouthful of roast and potatoes. It was nice seeing her eat so well. After devouring the heart shaped lava cake, Lily and Snape stumbled back out onto the streets, stuffed and sleepy.

"Perhaps we should wait an hour or so before we apparate, it'll be easier if we aren't so full and I'd like to keep all this down. All that spinning is not conducive to digestion."

Snape agreed and they started walking towards the Leaky Cauldron. On the way they saw a large gathering of people in a park. There was a choir singing on a small stage decorated with reindeer and stars.

"Sev, let's go watch for a few minutes!"

Lily dragged an unenthusiastic Snape by the hand into the crowd and pushed her way to the front. Snape stayed back slightly, not wanting to block someone's view with his tall stature. As he was watching Lily excitedly bounce up and down and clap for the choir, Snape noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a shadow disappear into an alleyway. Seeing Lily preoccupied he spontaneously decided to follow the retreating figure. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he felt some sort of magical presence. As he followed into the alleyway Snape felt that the figure was familiar, something about this person was familiar but he couldn't put his finger on what. They were wearing a hooded cloak and walking swiftly. Suddenly they stopped and turned their head slightly, looking back at Snape. All he saw were two red, glowing eyes before he heard a loud crack and the person disapparated. Snape ran to where the person used to be and looked around. Not a trace left behind, even the shoe prints were smudged as the witch or wizard spun.

Slightly confused and disoriented, Snape walked out of the alleyway and found himself on an unfamiliar street full of small shops, many of which were starting to close. As Snape walked down the street and tried to find his way back to the park, something in a shop window caught his eye.

iiiiiiiiiii

"Hey, where did you run off to?"

"Sorry Lily I had to find a bathroom."

Lily looked at Snape suspiciously and then said,

"If you didn't want to listen you could have said so."

"I think the part where you dragged me over kinda invalidates that."

Lily mocked Snape's expression and then they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron and apparated back to the gate outside Hogwarts from there.

As they walked back to the castle, Lily kept taking furtive glances at Snape.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just…"

"You what?"

"Did you buy my present or materials for my present today?"

"What makes you think I'm getting you anything?"

"Because you love me."

Snape's expression went slack when Lily said this but then she laughed and Snape gave a forced laugh in return before swallowing hard. It was somewhat pathetic how such an off-handed comment from Lily could make him lose his breath.

They got to the castle and stood in the Entrance Hall with their shopping bags.

"Don't bother studying anymore, you know your charms inside out, just get a good night's sleep."

"I will Lily, you do the same."

Lily nodded and started up the staircase, a few steps up she stopped and turned.

"Thank you for today, it was nice just forgetting about all the… stresses."

"I had fun too Lily, goodnight."

"Night Sev."

Snape stood completely still as he watched Lily walk up the stairs, he was afraid if he moved he'd run over to her and… plant a perfect end to a perfect day. But that could just as easily become the perfect end to a perfect friendship. So he stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched her leave.


	21. Happilations

Chapter 21: Happilations

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **THIS IS NOT PART OF THE PLOT!** This is a special chapter I am posting for the 1st anniversary of the story. A year ago on May 31st 2010 I uploaded the first chapter of IYWSDR!

These one-shots were fun to write because I got to write in some styles I'm more used to… anyways…

Enjoy!

iiiiiiiiiii

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts….. Teach us something please!"

Frank Longbottom was sitting in the middle of the trophy room polishing a large silver cup and singing to himself. He heard the door of the room open and he turned excitedly towards the noise hoping it was a teacher coming to announce the end of his torture. To his slight disappointment, however, it was a student who strode in. Frank smiled widely nonetheless and put the silver cup to the side.

"Alright Alice?"

Alice Bulstrode took one look at Longbottom and walked as far from him as she could while still being in the same room. She took out her wand and began organizing the trophies Frank had already cleaned. Frank got up and walked over to her.

"Don't tell me Little Miss Perfect got detention as well?"

Alice simply said,

"_Huh_!"

And turned away. Longbottom smiled and walked around to face Alice.

"Well that's what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I knew one of these days you'd come off that high and mighty pedestal! Now if only that friend of yours, Lily, would do the same, then Potter would stop sulking after every Quidditch practice."

Alice turned sharply to Frank and said,

"Please, a new prefect in detention is lecturing me! You're talking nothing but nonsense anyways so just go back to your polishing."

"Fine, but when you're up for prefect selections next year I'm not going to put in a good word for you."

Frank said coolly as he walked away with his hands in his pockets.

"Like anyone would want a recommendation from you! Besides everyone in my year knows Lily is going to be selected prefect anyways!"

Frank sat back down and started polishing but would take furtive glances at Alice every chance he could. They were only in the room for 5 minutes when Professor McGonagall walked in.

"Mr. Longbottom! Only a dozen finished? You've been here an hour already."

"Quality not quantity, isn't that what you always say Professor."

"Yes well that is all good and great in Transfiguration but not in detention."

"Well Alice hasn't helped me at all!"

"Miss Bulstrode is here on her own time as a volunteer. It is unfortunate that your junior is setting a better example, than you, a prefect. I certainly hope I won't regret my decision to put you in a position of authority so soon. Now you will finish the contents of that entire cabinet, without magic, before you go today or else it'll be detention for the week!"

Frank looked at the large wooden cabinet and groaned.

"And Miss Bulstrode, Miss Evans is in the infirmary and cannot join you tonight to help."

"In the infirmary? Is she alright?"

"Yes, she is fine. Mr. Potter just gave her a rather dangerous surprise gift this week. You may go visit her anytime, she isn't contagious anymore."

"Anymore?"

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me."

Professor McGonagall walked out of the room briskly but not before giving Longbottom a look that said; _try and sneak your way out of punishment and FEEL MY WRATH_.

Alice suppressed a giggle as the professor was walking out but burst out laughing as soon as the door was closed.

"Men! Why can't you boys just behave? Poor Lily is stuck in the infirmary and I'm stuck babysitting."

Frank looked affronted and replied,

"I certainly don't need you to babysit, I could use a snack though…"

Alice whipped around with her wand out and pointed it at Frank who, in a somewhat slow response, also drew his wand.

"Whoa, if you wanted to duel Alice you could have just said so."

"You could use a snack? What do I look like your mother?"

"No, but you would look _adorable_ in an apron."

Alice angrily shot a curse at Frank who easily dodged it and threw one back. Alice was barely able to block it and regain her footing before Frank attempted to hit her with a _petrificus totalus_. As they were dueling Frank was laughing and moving closer to Alice instead of backing away.

"Come now Alice, you're a girl, I don't want to hurt you."

This taunt just infuriated Alice who said nothing but produced a strong, sky blue spell from her wand. It hit Frank who dropped his wand and was lifted into the air.

Try as he might, Frank could not make his way to the ground, it was as though gravity had been suspended and he just continued floating and spinning in the air.

"Oi! What kind of spell was that? Since when can you produce non-verbal spells?"

A shocked and flustered Alice rushed over and said,

"I can't, I mean I didn't know I could."

Alice looked up at Frank and put her hands on her hips

"This is what you get for making me mad."

"Fine I'm sorry! Now let me down!"

"Nu-uh! Say it like you mean it!"

Frank took a deep breath and tried to look as dignified as he could considering the situation.

"I am very sorry Alice for suggesting you and women in general are only capable of domestic pursuits."

Alice gave a satisfied smiled and said,

"Thank you."

Instead of casting a counter spell Alice simply closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths as though she was trying to calm down. Confused and slightly annoyed, Frank said,

"How long are you going to keep me here?"

Alice opened her eyes and through clenched teeth said,

"Just a minute!"

Alice took a final slow breath and suddenly gravity pulled Frank back to the ground and right on top of Alice.

"Ah! Oi geroffme!"

"Sorry but you're the one who just dropped me."

"Ugh!"

As they were untangling themselves from each other they heard the door open again. A small boy, no older than second year came in and took one look at Alice and Frank on the floor and tried to run back out.

"It's alright Adam, it's not what it looks like. Come in, what's wrong?"

Although not looking totally assured, the little boy walked over to Frank and said,

"I just wanted to say thanks and bring you something, cause I saw you missed dinner."

The little boy produced a few muffins from behind his back held them out as he spoke. Frank, who was sitting on the floor, but was still almost as tall as the boy, reached out and ruffled Adam's hair.

"Thanks kid. Next time those guys try to flush you down the toilet you tell them they'll have to deal with me alright?"

The little boy smiled, nodded, gave the muffins to Frank and then ran out of the room.

Beside him Alice stood up and asked,

"That's why you jinxed those 4th years? Because they were picking on him?"

Frank just shrugged and took a bite out of one of the muffins.

"That boy, he's a Hufflepuff isn't he?"

Again Frank just shrugged and held out a muffin for Alice to take. Meekly Alice took the muffin and said,

"Thanks."

iiiiiiiiiii

Glasses clinked and a small string band played a beautiful song that was carried through the ballroom and out into the courtyard. Standing on her own on a balcony overseeing the courtyard was a girl with a sharp and bony face.

Below a pretty and voluptuous girl was dancing pressed closely against a broad-shouldered and handsome boy.

"Probably bought a love potion off Lily, she isn't that pretty after all."

The girl scoffed and turned around only to be surprised by a somewhat large boy standing the doorway of the balcony.

"Oh! You startled me."

"My apologies, just coming out for some fresh air."

Feeling awkward and not knowing what to do, Petunia simply turned around and leaned her elbows on the balcony once more. The boy walked next to her and held out a glass of Champaign.

"No thank you, I don't drink."

"Ah. Sorry."

The boy put both glasses down to the side and turned to Petunia.

"Do you know Archibald and Marylyn?"

Petunia looked at the boy from the corner of her eye and said,

"We've all known each other for ages, same elementary and prep schools in Sheffield. Marylyn was practically stuck to my side all through prep school."

"Well it's nice to know someone. Barely a soul I recognized at this university when I started out but one must look after their prospects not their friends I say."

Petunia smiled slightly.

"My name is Vernon by the way, Vernon Dursley."

Petunia took his outstretched hand politely but did not linger in the handshake.

"I attended Smeltings before starting here."

At the mention of this name Petunia straightened up and asked,

"Are you also a freshman?"

"No, this is my last year here. No, I'm just attending the Welcoming Ball as a representative of the graduating class."

"Oh, I see. My name is Petunia, Petunia Evans."

"Petunia, what a beautiful name. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Vernon bowed slightly and Petunia held her hand up to her mouth and giggled just slightly. When Petunia turned around again Vernon looked a bit panicky. Suddenly and loudly asked,

"So what's this I hear about love potions eh?"

He smiled widely but Petunia looked horrified in return.

"No, I mean, it was only a joke of course."

"Oh yes, yes of course."

Vernon laughed loudly and Petunia grimaced. Vernon coughed and started rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.

"People who believe in magic are just a bunch of freaks anyways."

When Vernon said this Petunia smiled and moved closer.

"You think so too?"

"Oh yes."

Vernon nodded and then grabbed the lapel of his suit jacket with his hand before continuing,

"I say those sorts ought to be secluded from normal society. Put them somewhere where they can learn to be productive members of society. Just you wait, those hippies will ruin America and England will be left picking the pieces up."

Petunia laughed and said,

"You know I've felt the same way for a long time. If people can't function in normal society, it isn't because they're special; they need to be put away for our safety. Of course they could never understand that."

Vernon nodded and smiled uncomfortably. Suddenly the band altered the melody and the pace of the song quickened. Petunia looked away and Vernon fumbled with the buttons on his shirt dress for a few seconds before asking,

"Care to dance?"

Petunia turned slowly and said,

"Well I suppose…"

iiiiiiiiiii

The sun was just rising in the sky. It glared down on a forest, willing its rays to penetrate the canopy but to no avail.

Far below, lying on the dirt of the forest floor was a little girl. She was barely distinguishable from the forest floor itself, brown and matted with soil. She was on her back with her arms and legs stretched out. Her small face was streaked with freshly shed tears and she was hiccupping and sobbing silently. She opened her eyes to the darkness of the forest and smiled weakly.

Slowly she sat up and wiped her face only to leave smears of dust on her cheeks but that didn't matter in the dark. She stood and began walking slowly towards some unknown destination.

Soon she reached a river and promptly jumped into it, splashing copious amounts of water all over herself. The cold water was refreshing and it seemed to lift the little girl's spirits some.

Unbeknownst to her as she happily splashed away, someone was watching her. Behind a large tree stood a tall handsome little boy who peeked curiously from behind the tree at the little girl. After several clandestine glances the boy ventured too far from behind his tree and stepped on a loose rock. The ground beneath him crumbled and he lost his balance. As the sound of the boy falling down the river's bank reached the little girl's ears she stood stock still and scared but made no sound. She looked over and saw the little boy trying to get up clumsily.

Seeing that he was just a child and could not harm her, the little girl walked over to the boy stared at him. The boy stared back and then asked,

"Who are you?"

The girl didn't answer but instead asked,

"Why are you here at the break of dawn?"

The boy squinted against the shadows of the forest.

"Is that you Robin Greenshield?"

"No, I'm not Robin Greenshield but I know who you are, you're Tom Riddle. You're house is over yonder."

The little girl pointed to her right and the boy lit up at this bit of news.

"You know where my house is from here?"

"Why, are you lost?"

The boy stepped back.

"No, just walked too far."

The little girl said nothing but turned and started walking. Tom called,

"Where are you going?"

"To take you home of course. Come follow!"

The little boy made no objections but simply sped up the bank of the river and next to the little girl.

The pair walked in silence although every now and then the boy would turn to look at the girl. The sun was rising higher and higher in the sky, pressing more insistently onto the forest canopy. The girl noticed this too and began to look worried. Daylight meant no good things for her. The daylight, the blinding light, it exposed what she really was. The girl turned her head slightly and looked at the boy. He and his kind shone in the light, walking in the darkness was too much of a pity for people like him. She knew, yes she was sure, for her the darkness was the only way.

The dawn of day also meant the perfect silence of night would be broken by the demands of the world. Daylight meant being enclosed in a haunted house, a house haunted by her own reflection.

The silence seemed to bother the little boy who made an attempt to break it.

"If you aren't Robin Greenshield, then who are you?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm eight years old enough to know better."

"I'm ten."

"Really? Then you should be the one showing me home. You are a boy after all."

"I said I'm not lost now!"

The agitated tone and country accent of the boy's voice betrayed his haughtily look. The little girl just smiled although no one could tell, not even the powerful sun that continued its assault on the trees. As they continued to walk something moved in a bush next to the pair.

"What was that?"

The frightened boy suddenly grabbed the little girl's arm who laughed.

"Just a snake."

"A snake!"

The boy jumped around and the girl laughed louder.

"Don't worry scaredy boy! Just a forest snake, won't hurt you none."

"Oh."

The boy let go of the girl's arm. The girl looked at the snake who turned towards her before slithering away. As they stood the boy rubbed his legs and the girl said,

"We're almost there."

The girl picked up her pace and the boy strode along, matching it.

When they reached the edge of the forest the girl stopped and turned away from the boy.

"Your house is just beyond that hill there. You won't miss it since your place is the biggest in town of course."

"Aren't you going home?"

"I am, but it's the other way."

"Oh, well, thank you."

The girl nodded and the boy started to walk away but then turned back towards the girl.

"My father is having a picnic and the whole town is coming, well I suppose it will be a bit of a party with a picnic theme. My mother is going a bit mad with the preparations and there'll be carriage rides for everyone..."

As he spoke the girl just stood and stared at the boy. When he noticed this, the boy stopped and took his sentence on a different path.

"Well, you and your folks should come, unless you've already been invited, in which case I'll see you there."

Seeing no point in disappointing him the girl nodded and waved goodbye. The boy did the same before walking out of the forest and into the sunny meadow beyond. The girl watched him walk away, further and further. She told herself it was to make sure he would go the right way but she just envied him. She wished she could brazenly walk out into the sun towards something good.

She looked up at the sky and saw how angry and hot the sun was becoming. She knew she had to go home or she would be in trouble for being out of bed at night again and not being there to make breakfast and feed the chickens. But somehow she wasn't frightened at all that day. She didn't want to go back; she wanted to walk into that meadow too.

The girl looked at the meadow and its flowers as they blew in the breeze and started running. She ran not looking back. She ran into the blinding light and…

.

.

.

She awoke to the sounds of a carriage passing. When she leaped out of bed and looked out the window, however, there was no sign of any carriage. As she walked back to her bed and slouched down, that little girl, although not so little anymore, she wished she could dream that dream every night and every day.


	22. It's Not Over Until

Chapter 22: It's Not Over Until…

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: Sorry I was away for a while! Hi to all the new readers!

Enjoy.

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape woke Monday morning feel surprisingly rested. He lay in bed and smiled to himself as he thought of yesterday. He wanted to keep that day in his memories for as long as he lived and then some. As he stretched he went over his Transfiguration and Charms routine in his head. He knew all the spells and counter-spells and was in too good a mood not to do well on the exams. He knew the only way he would get anywhere in life was to be better than everyone else. He just plain had nothing else going for him. He got up and got dressed, brushed his teeth and walked down to breakfast. He sat next to a group of 4th year Slytherins who were engaged in some last minute studying. He noticed that Lily was nowhere to be seen.

Avery and Wilkes shooed the 4th years away and sat next to Snape, who did his best to show he was not in the mood for whatever they had in mind.

"Morning Snape, how'd you sleep?"

"Fine Wilkes, how was your sleep?"

"Fine, fine. Where have you been sleeping anyways?"

Snape shifted uncomfortably in his seat and answered,

"Here and there. I've been studying so I just pop into the room to sleep a few hours or end up falling asleep where I'm studying."

"That's strange, seems like your bed hasn't been slept in for a while."

Avery joined in,

"Yeah, almost seems like you've been sleeping in… someone else's bed."

Avery and Wilkes looked at each other and then at the entrance to the Great Hall with a suspicious smirk on their faces. Snape looked up and followed their gaze only to see Lily walking towards the Gryffindor table, dragging her feet the whole way.

"Seems Lily didn't sleep so well, maybe you shouldn't have been so rough with her."

Snape turned and glared at Avery who began to laugh. Ignoring the pair Snape turned back to Lily who was wincing as she slipped into her seat at the table. Alice and Longbottom were sitting next to her looking apologetic. Snape scanned the table and noticed Potter and his gang were nowhere to be seen. Had Potter done something to Lily last night? Snape wanted to talk to Lily but she didn't seem to be in a well enough state to quietly slip out unnoticed.

In these two weeks of exams it was usually difficult to talk to Lily because they were often both busy studying and there was no way to communicate during the actual exams. They had their Transfiguration written exam in the morning and their practical Charms exam in the afternoon, the following Monday this would be reversed meaning that both he and Lily had this coming Friday free. He wondered if Lily would want to do something special.

When students were shooed out of the Great Hall so that it could be cleared and prepped for the exam, Snape snaked his way around the crowd and found Lily.

"Hey, morning."

"Oh, morning Severus."

"Are you alright? You were, sort of limping."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"That? Mary and I got into a fight last night and… it got a bit heated."

"What? You and Mary… dueled?"

Lily looked around and seemed unhappy with the amount of people within hearing distance and struggled over to a corner. Snape wanted to help her but was conscious of Avery looking their way. When she was satisfied with their distance from the crowd, Lily said,

"When I got back last night Mary was waiting for me in our room. Apparently she found someone else's underwear in Potter's bed and thought it was mine."

"What? Is she mad? Wait, how did she find them, was she in Potter's room?"

"Well it seems she has access. Black says they're one of his 'friend's' but Mary thinks I'm getting Black to cover for me. Anyways I told her she was crazy and she jinxed me and we got into a bit of a fight but…"

"But what?"

Lily leaned in closer and in a hurried wave of whispers said,

"I managed to knock her off her feet and then left because I was worried I would do something rash in my anger. When I came back the room was torn apart and Mary was nowhere to be found. I figured she just messed the room up because she was angry. But then she comes back and accuses me of using Dark magic on her."

Snape looked around himself, making sure no one could hear them.

"That's quite an accusation. What sort of Dark magic did she say you used?"

"I never got a chance to ask because as soon as she started yelling at me a bunch of other girls, mostly 3rd and 4th years came in and asked what all the noise was about. Then Mary claimed I had used forbidden magic on her and that I was the one who messed the room up. Luckily they didn't seem convinced but they decided to call Professor McGonagall anyways."

"And what happened once McGonagall got there?"

"She interviewed me then Mary and I suppose she believed me because she didn't even reprimand me. Either way Mary was furious and didn't come back to the dorm."

"So where did she sleep?"

"In Potter's bed probably, I'm not sure."

Snape considered what Lily said. If McGonagall believed Mary she certainly would have done something about it, or perhaps she was waiting before taking definitive action, in which case she may believe Mary. What could possibly make Mary behave this way; was jealousy so powerful?

Snape did not have much more time to contemplate last night's events as the students were ushered into the Great Hall and he and Lily were separated.

Snape sat at his desk and looked over all the questions, nothing stuck out as being particularly difficult. He turned his head and saw Lily already writing although struggling somewhat as even her hand seemed hurt. She may be more injured than she was letting on. She should have seen the nurse before the exam. Snape scanned the crowd again, careful not to draw suspicion from any of the teachers. He spotted Black and Lupin, further on he saw Potter, all of them were writing away, but Mary was nowhere to be seen. Snape assumed she was out of his line of vision and began writing his exam.

iiiiiiiiiii

Professor Flitwick called for everyone's exams and Snape clenched and unclenched his hand in the hopes of getting the feeling back in it. The exam had required more writing than he thought. As everyone stood up from their tables and made their way outside Snape looked over his paper, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He hated not knowing how he did, the wait for marks was unbearable.

When he looked up and looked around he couldn't find Lily anywhere but he did see Avery walking his way so he decided to duck down some stairs towards the basement instead of following the steady stream of students outside. When the crowd, and Avery, had passed Snape came out of his hiding spot and was almost at the top of the stairs when he heard some agitated voices coming from the Entrance Hall.

"It is troubling Minerva and out of character for Miss MacDonald to react this way, but are you really suggesting that her accusations may be true?"

"I'm not sure what to believe Albus but what is sure is that Miss MacDonald did not show up for her exam and is now missing."

"When was she last seen?"

"After I questioned her, no one has seen her since she left my office. She never came back to the dormitories last night according to Miss Bulstrode."

"And Miss Evans?"

"She slept in her room last night but returned late, a whole hour after I last saw Miss MacDonald."

The Headmaster looked confused, then suddenly he became rigid and his mouth fell open in shock.

"What is it Albus?"

"Perhaps nothing Minerva, I just… hope I am wrong."

The Headmaster walked up a set of stairs briskly leaving a flustered and confused Professor McGonagall behind. After a few moments the professor calmed herself and walked a different way.

Although the way was clear Snape was paralyzed where he stood. Nothing he heard or saw could mean anything good. He ran over and over again in his mind the events of last night and what Lily had said this morning. He hated himself for feeling this way but it seemed there was something strange about what Lily told him. Something just did not add up. If Lily was injured during the duel how did she manage to 'walk away' from the fight? Why would younger students rush into a prefect's room just because of some noise, how heated had the argument become? Where was Alice during all this? It seemed like McGonagall was suspicious of Lily. Slowly Snape walked upstairs to the 7th floor and into the Room of Requirement.

He sat down at the desk where all his Charms notes were sprawled out. He wondered vaguely whether Lily was keeping something from him again. He rubbed his eyes and placed the magical bookmark on a stack of today's newspapers from around Europe and let it get to work like always. It was bad that Mary was missing, no one would miss an exam because of an argument, at least no one rational. Did anyone else know Mary was missing? What did Lily do between the time she was interviewed by Professor McGonagall and the time she came back to her dormitory? Snape's thoughts were interrupted by the bookmark tapping him insistently on the head. Snape looked up and grabbed the newspaper that was on top of the pile. It was a wizarding newspaper, but a smaller, local one.

_The body of wizard George Lattimer is finally being returned to his family in England after Turkish authorities finished investigations and deemed the death an accident. The grief-stricken family insists that the death was no mere accident but, are glad to finally be able to put their loved one to rest. The funeral will be held at the St. Paul Church in __Birmingham__ this coming Friday at 15:00. Mr. Lattimer disappeared from London last August, his body was found in Turkey last October._

Severus reread the small square article tucked away in a corner of the death announcements page. The idea had formed in his mind long before he finished reading, if they attended the funeral perhaps they could learn more about what Lattimer was doing. The only problem with such a plan was the accusations against Lily; would she be allowed to leave even accompanied? Snape looked up and saw the sun had moved in the sky, it was certainly time for lunch.

Snape made his way back down to the Great Hall. It was full of students chatting about what they had gotten or missed on their exams. Snape intended to grab some food and then head back up to the 7th floor with Lily to discuss the announcement in the newspaper as well as what really happened last night. Snape walked in and saw Lily at the Gryffindor table where the mood seemed uncomfortable. It appeared everyone was now aware of Mary's disappearance. A few students were whispering and giving Lily strange looks but for the most part people seemed concerned. Even Potter and Black were stone faced and hadn't touched their food. Lily was holding a bun in one hand and chewing while staring off into space. Snape slyly tried to get her attention but it wasn't working. It seemed that Rosier and Avery noticed and yelled,

"Oi Lily, Lily Evans, your boyfriend wants a word with you!"

Snape stood stock still with shock and stared at Lily who had now come out of her daze and was blushing. Snape kept his face emotionless and turned slowly to face Rosier and Wilkes who were laughing so hard they had fallen off the bench. After threatening them with death, Snape turned back around and motioned towards the door to show that he wanted Lily to leave. Getting the clue Lily got up and excused herself, blushing even more intensely as several of the younger girls at her table giggled and everyone else in the Hall stared at them as they left together.

Once they were back up to the 7th floor, Lily meekly asked,

"So what's up?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

"What do you mean?"

"Lily what really happened between you and Mary last night, it was bigger than you let on wasn't it?"

Lily looked uncomfortable and then sighed heavily.

"I'm not really sure, everything happened so fast. We went from talking to yelling at each other and then spells were flying."

"Where was Alice? Or anyone else?"

"Washing up."

"Who cast the first spell?"

"Mary."

Snape looked skeptical and when Lily saw this she said,

"Honestly, I know I have a temper but I was happy to shout it out with her, I didn't even have my wand out, honest. I didn't even cast anything back, just defended myself until.."

"Until what?"

"Well, she started say things about you."

"What did she say?"

"It's not important."

"Yes it is. What did she say?"

When Lily continued to hesitate, Snape pressed again,

"Lily my feelings aren't going to be hurt because she said something about me, it can't be any worse than what the Marauders spew every day."

Lily sighed again and finally conceded,

"She said I was using you, that I wanted attention and I wanted… to be obsessed over, but that I'll forget all the dinners and London nights and eventually marry Potter for his money."

Lily turned away awkwardly before adding,

"And that's when I just lost it, but I never cast anything worse than a _Furnunculus_ curse, honest!"

Snape furrowed his brow.

"Were you talking about what we did yesterday before you two started arguing?"

"No, she started on me as soon as I walked into the room."

"Then how did she know we had dinner in London?"

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it, thinking.

"I, I didn't speak to anyone on my way to my room."

Snape sat down and considered something he had been suspecting for a while.

"Does Mary know how to Apparate?"

Lily followed Snape and also sat down on a chair, looking confused.

"Not that I know of, but Potter might have taught her. I'm fairly sure that lot knows a bunch of spells they aren't supposed to."

Snape thought that was likely, seeing as they knew how to deal with Lupin every time he transformed, Dumbledore must have taught them how to control a werewolf, perhaps he also taught them to Apparate without a license.

"I think Mary was following us."

"What?"

"While you were listening to the choir I saw someone watching us. I followed them into an alleyway but they apparated before I could catch up to them. I'm not sure if it was Mary but it seems likely."

"Why would Mary be following us?"

"That's a good question. A better question is where is she now?"

"Could she have gotten splinched?"

Snape considered this,

"It is possible but wouldn't the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad have been notified?"

"I suppose, but maybe they don't know about it."

"Well if that's all that happened then they'll find her, put her back together and she'll be back by dinner. But that's not all I wanted to talk to you about."

Snape handed Lily the newspaper and she read the funeral announcement. When she handed Snape back the paper she said,

"Seems like we'll be going to quite a few funerals, good we got you a set of dress robes."

Snape half smiled, it seemed Lily had the same idea as he.

"Let me do the talking Severus, I think they'll be more comfortable and they may have heard about, well what happened."

Snape nodded in agreement. They had both lost loved ones, Lily would be able to connect with them and make them speak freely.

Lily sighed and ran her hands through her hair, she looked stressed. Before Snape could say anything to comfort her she said,

"The Charms practical will be starting soon, I should get there early."

Snape nodded again and they got up and went downstairs where a long queue was already forming for the Charms Practical Exam. Lily went up ahead in the line as her last name started with an E, while Snape was further back. When Snape passed Potter he expected a taunt or a spell but nothing, Potter stared straight ahead and up front Black was hanging his head. It seemed Mary hadn't been found just yet, too bad, from what Lily said she would do fine on her Charms exam.

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape felt he had done well on the exam and when he joined Lily in the waiting room she seemed just as pleased with her performance. Snape looked around and saw most of the Gryffindors standing together away from Lily, Black stared at the two of them as they talked about which spells they were asked to cast. Snape found their behavior suspicious but tried to shrug it off.

When the last student finally completed their mid-term exam everyone was allowed to leave the waiting room. As the crowd was walking out Snape saw Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore standing, waiting.

"Miss Evans would you come with me please?"

Snape interjected, much to Professor McGonagall's surprise.

"What is this about?"

"This does not concern you Mr. Snape."

"Have you found Mary MacDonald?"

"Mr. Snape we will not discuss…"

"No Minerva, it's fine. Mr. Snape I'd like to see you as well."

After looking at each other, both Snape and Lily followed the two professors while the rest of the students whispered.

No one said anything until the four of them entered the Headmaster's office and the door was closed. Dumbledore sat down at his desk while McGonagall remained standing next to him.

"Have a seat please."

Lily and Snape did as Dumbledore asked.

"Mr. Snape you asked about Miss MacDonald's whereabouts, yes?"

Snape nodded.

"Well, Miss MacDonald has indeed been found but not in the condition we had hoped."

"Has she splinched herself?"

Dumbledore looked curiously at Snape when he asked this.

"No Mr. Snape, I wish that were all. Miss MacDonald has been petrified."

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Author's Note: NoxSomnium asked about Lily being left unattended and Snape not being treated; it was to emphasize a level of neglect and denial of things not being as serious as they were at Hogwarts from both staff and fellow students. At this point no one suspected how deep Voldemort's influence was and how dangerous things were getting, which happened again but from the Ministry during the second war.


	23. The Phoenix Weeps

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Chapter 23: The Phoenix Weeps

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: TitanNegro: Thank you! I wish more people reviewed too ! bshoes: The story is part mystery, so the confusion is normal! narutonarutolove: So… I take it you like the plot? Sandpiper: read on and find out!

**NOTE:** The parts in between * * are flashbacks!

Enjoy the chapter everyone!

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Lily gasped and instinctively grabbed Snape, who calmly asked,

"Where was she found?"

"In the 2nd floor bathroom"

When Dumbledore answered Lily's grip on Snape's arm tightened noticeably.

"Do you know how long she'd been there?"

Dumbledore looked at Lily, who averted her eyes, before he answered,

"We believe since last night but we cannot be certain."

"Madam Pomfrey will be able to cure her won't she?"

"Yes Mr. Snape as soon as we can acquire enough matured Mandrake root to brew the necessary potion. Until then we would like to find out how she was petrified."

"You don't know?"

"No, we were hoping Miss Evans might be able to enlighten us."

Dumbledore turned back to Lily, who looked at McGonagall and Snape before answering,

"I certainly did not petrify Mary."

"Do you know what happened?"

"All I know is Mary has been acting very strange lately, secretive. But what she's been doing and why she's been acting this way, I've not a clue. You really should be talking to James Potter."

"So you did not see Mary last night after you were questioned by Professor McGonagall?"

"No I did not."

McGonagall walked up next to Lily and said,

"That is strange as several witnesses can place you in the same bathroom where Mary MacDonald was found petrified, late last night."

"I'm sure they can. I was there but I never saw Mary. Perhaps she was following me again."

"Again?"

Snape answered as Lily was becoming upset.

"We have reason to believe Mary was following Lily and I, perhaps because she was worried that Lily and Potter were having some sort of affair."

"Were you?"

Lily turned abruptly to Dumbledore when he asked this question then scoffed.

"No, I was not, not now and not ever."

Lily got up and turned to Professor McGonagall.

"If you are going to question me further or accuse me of anything than you'll have to call my parents first so that they can be present."

"Now Miss Evans no one is accusing you of anything there is no need to get upset."

"It certainly sounds like I'm being accused. Now if you'll excuse me."

Lily left the room quickly and slammed the door shut. Snape sighed and got up out of his chair as well. As he turned to leave he said,

"Lily had nothing to do with what happened to Mary."

When Snape reached the door he heard Dumbledore say behind him,

"Can you be certain Mr. Snape?"

iiiiiiiiiii

It was becoming harder to breathe as she struggled against him. Her wrists burned and stung as he pressed them against the floor, the hard floor that his body pinned her body against. Snape was much stronger than he looked but Lily wasn't afraid. Somewhere far away he was saying her name and it became unbearably warm. In a sudden moment of clarity Lily wondered aloud,

"Where are we?"

Snape sighed with relief as Lily stopped struggling against him. After making sure Lily was alright Snape got up off her and stood above her.

"What the hell has gotten into you?"

Slowly and painfully, Lily stood. Snape helped her but remained wary.

"What happened?"

"What happened? That's a damn good question Lily!"

Snape was panting and flush red from fatigue and anger. Lily stared back at him confused and a little scared. Seeing the fear in her eyes Snape turned and pressed his warm forehead against the cool wall. He was still adjusting to the sudden stop and it felt as though Lily's body was still pressed against his. As the adrenaline seeped from his blood Snape began to process all the sensations his panic had momentarily blocked out. They were torture to suppress, but he had to. Snape shook his head hoping it would force his blood back up. Still annoyed and _hot_, Snape turned to Lily who was standing in the middle of the hallway looking around her.

"How often?"

Lily turned to face Snape, who was still panting and leaning against the wall.

"What?"

"How often has this happened? Is this what happened between you and Mary last night?"

"No! I…. It's complicated."

Lily sighed and ran her hands through her hair before crouching down and pressing her head against her legs. Snape walked over to her and also crouched down.

"It's alright Lily, you can tell me."

Lily kept her face pressed firmly against her thighs and hugged her legs even tighter. Snape grabbed her arms and loosened Lily's grip on her legs.

"Look at me Lily."

Again, Lily resolutely kept her head down but now the shaking was becoming more obvious. Snape let go of her arms and they fell limply to her sides. He took Lily's shoulders and forced her torso up. Now, as Lily hung her head down so that her hair hid her face, it was obvious that she was sobbing. He brushed her hair back behind her ears and tilted her head up so that they were looking each other in the eyes. She was still crying, tears streaming down her cheeks, making them glisten in the dim light.

"Sev… I'm… I'm so sorry. This…. It isn't what I wanted."

Lily covered her face with her hands and started crying again. Snape wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.

iiiiiiiiiii

Up in the Room of Requirement, Snape could hear the water rushing inside the bathroom. He should have seen the signs earlier, he should have helped her. Lily's behavior in Dumbledore's office should have been the final clue, the agitation, paranoia. The water stopped and Snape heard Lily step out of the shower. 5 minutes later Lily emerged from the bathroom in a robe and with a towel wrapped around her hair. Steam wafted out of the bathroom and spread the smell of Lily's shampoo throughout the room. As she sat across from him Snape looked at Lily with a weary expression, it was going to be hard but Lily was worth fighting for.

"How long?"

Lily lifted her head and looked embarrassed but answered,

"Since my father died, I guess."

"How often?"

"Uh... well…. recently, twice a day, but it's only because of exams so I..."

"DON'T!"

Lily jumped slightly in her seat as Snape yelled.

"Don't make excuses, I don't want to hear it."

Lily bit her bottom lip and fidgeted with her robe's belt. Snape sighed and got up, pacing behind Lily as he continued to interrogate her.

"Are they stronger now than before?"

"Yes."

"How much stronger?"

"Twice, maybe a bit more…"

"Are you making them yourself?"

"Yes."

"Are you selling any?"

"No, of course not!"

Snape seemed satisfied and sat back down.

"I don't want to hear any excuses about stress or that you're upset about what happened to your father, nothing. You'll never touch them again, not unless prescribed by a healer and its ABSOLUTLY necessary. Do you understand me?"

Lily nodded and choked back tears.

"I'm sorry Sev."

"I know you are Lily, but don't say it. If you're sorry just never do it again. I should have seen the signs but I… I guess I never expected this from you."

Lily wiped away a couple of tears.

"Didn't you think you had a problem, that you should stop, at least when you started blacking out?"

"They started before."

"What?"

"The blackouts were one of the reasons I started taking them, not the other way around. They did get better recently so I figured if the potions were working..."

Snape looked at Lily skeptically but he knew she wasn't lying. There had been something wrong with Lily before she started taking the potions; in retrospect everything seemed so obvious.

"I know it's been hard on you but self-medicating like this, it isn't the answer Lily."

Lily sniffled and nodded in agreement.

"It's not going to be easy. My father tried to quit the bottle a few times, it can get pretty nasty."

"I wanted to wait until exams were over."

Snape stopped and considered this.

"No you weren't, not really. But you're right, there's no way you'll get through your exams if you're in withdrawal. I'll make some for you, just enough to keep you going and once exams are over, its cold turkey."

Lily nodded and took the towel off her head so that her hair could air dry. She looked so delicate and fragile in that moment, like a kitten lost in a rainstorm.

"So what happened last night?"

Lily sighed and shook her hair, splashing water all over.

"It's kind of a long story, I guess I need to start at the end of last year."

Snape sat down and Lily brought her knees to her chest and hugged her legs but remained sitting on the chair. She avoided eye contact with Severus.

"At the end of last year, because of everything that happened, Mary gave me a journal. I guess she thought it would help me sort out, I don't know. Anyways, I wrote in it all summer but in lemon juice, because, you know how Petunia likes to snoop. Once I started investigating the Clock Tower incident I even initially wrote my notes in there. Anyhow, one day it went missing and…. you found it."

"That journal?"

Lily nodded yes,

"But you found it a couple of weeks after I lost it. Then, about a month ago, I lost it again. I hadn't written in it since I lost it the last time but still, it wasn't something I wanted the wrong person to get their hands on."

"What does this have to do with what happened between you and Mary?"

"Early yesterday morning before we went to Diagon Alley I was making my rounds, as all the prefects except a certain lazy Gryffindor prefect were, and I noticed the 2nd floor was flooded."

"What happened?"

"I heard someone crying in the bathroom, and it being that bathroom it could only be one person."

"_What in the world! Myrtle!"_

_"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?" _

_"Why would I throw something at you?" _

_"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted,_

_"Here I am, minding my own business and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me ..."_

_"Who threw it at you?"_

_"I don't know... I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head, it's over there, it got washed out ..."_

"And wouldn't you know..."

"It was your journal?"

Lily nodded yes before continuing,

"I think Mary found it or stole it, which might explain some of her paranoia about Potter and me. I reckon when I got back she made that fuss because she knew I had it again, and she may have messed our room looking for it."

"Why would she want it back if it was yours in the first place?"

"She wrote in it, she needed it for something, she wanted to destroy it but it ended up getting stuck instead of being flushed, or maybe she's just insane…I'm not sure honestly. Either way I'm glad I kept it in here and not in the dorm."

"So why did you go back to the washroom that night?"

"I wanted to ask Myrtle about something but she wasn't there although the washroom was still flooded. I left and didn't see Mary at all. I don't know what happened or how Mary was petrified."

"You didn't have another black-out?"

"No, I remember going back to the dormitory and to bed."

Snape sighed, then got up and stretched.

"You sleep here tonight Lily, I'm going to sleep in the dorm, the guys are starting to get suspicious anyways."

"Are you sure?"

Snape nodded and said,

"Don't worry about Runes theory and get some sleep, you'll need the energy to deal with that Snargaluff."

Lily smiled and Snape closed the door behind him as he left the room. He was only slightly reassured by what Lily had told him. Suddenly Snape remembered that Potter had stolen the potions from Lily before the Hunt, it seemed he knew all along. It didn't make sense that Lily would willingly break into Potter's room just to look for something, she must have been running out and was desperate. The revelation disheartened Snape incredibly.

It was now way past curfew and Snape was careful to be as silent as possible and avoided high traffic areas. As he was coming down the hall towards the entrance to the Slytherin dormitories, Snape bumped into Julia Parkinson who was a year younger.

"Oh, it's you."

"Why who were you expecting?"

"That weird Gryffindor girl who's been sneaking around here the last few weeks, doesn't say a thing just walks on by like she's got every right, stupid mudblood."

"I think you're mistaken, are you sure it was a Gryffindor?."

"Yes, I'm sure, she's the one dating Potter. A pity he has such bad taste in women."

"You mean Mary MacDonald? Well worry no more, she won't be coming back here anytime soon."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"She's been petrified."

Snape walked by Julia and into the common room despite protests from Julia who seemed overjoyed by the news. Snape went directly to his room and had hoped that his roommates were asleep, but no such luck.

"Oi, Snape! Finally come home!"

Avery was sitting in bed reading a comic book.

"What's wrong, you and that broad get into a fight? Hum?"

Snape ignored Wilkes and plopped onto his bed.

"Aren't you going to study?"

"I did study Rosier. I know my Runes inside out and I'm as prepared as I'm going to get for Herbology. Did you study?"

"I only have Divination tomorrow, can't study much for that."

Just then a burst of sound came from the direction of the common room, it sounded like girls giggling.

"What they bloody hell? Isn't it a bit late for gossiping?"

Avery got up and yanked the door open and yelled,

"Oi, shut the fuck up! It's late you whores!"

"Who the hell said that?"

"Your mother!"

Avery slammed the door closed again and shook his head in disbelief while mumbling,

"Women."

"I guess they really hated MacDonald."

When Snape said this all three boys turned to him.

"What ya mean?"

Wilkes was looking eagerly at Snape.

"Didn't you all hear? I thought the whole school knew by now."

"Hear what?"

"Mary MacDonald was found petrified this afternoon. No one knows how it happened. Anyways they reckon she'll be fine once they get her some potion."

Rosier gave an awkward and forced laugh before saying,

"Mulciber will be interested to know about that."

Snape just rolled over and closed his curtains. The other three boys were oddly quiet and Snape was beginning to suspect there was more to what was happening here than Dumbledore let on.

iiiiiiiiiii

A groggy and jittery Lily walked over with Snape to the classroom where the Ancient Runes exam was going to take place. Snape had gotten up early to brew Lily a weak Elixir to Induce Euphoria, just to keep her going, and it seemed to keep her calm but her body was protesting. Snape would gage how she handled the written exam and if need be, give her a boost before they went into battle for the Herbology exam.

Snape and Lily separated as they got into alphabetical order. Fateen Edgecombe enthusiastically said hi to Lily who only grunted in response. This seemed to make Fateen nervous, taking Lily's bad mood as a sign of concern over the exam. Snape smiled to himself and tried to remember the delta sequences but it seemed every time he thought of this class some strange memory of Lily would crop up: the rune poems, the _curcio_ (Snape shuttered slightly at this memory), the journal. What did the journal say? It was all such a blur, he never really stopped to read anything, he never got a chance. And what was it that Lily said last night, that the journal has fueled Mary's suspicions about her and Potter. What exactly had Lily written in there about him? Snape had no more time to ponder as Professor Babbling arrived and announced the start of the exam.

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Just as he had feared, Lily needed a boost before Herbology. Either way, 3 or 4 doses of the weak Elixir to Induce Euphoria a day would be a significantly smaller dosage than what Lily had been taking, so it was a start.

The pair had come out of the exam relatively unscathed and Lily was looking much better than she had this morning. Tomorrow was a light day for Lily as she only had her practical Potions exam in the afternoon and there was no way Slughorn would ever give Lily anything less than perfect. Snape, on the other hand, had to study for Arithmancy which fortunately only had a written exam but was notoriously difficult. Lily went to take a nap and Snape holed himself in an empty classroom with a large blackboard on which he could practice some equations.

Snape took a break for dinner and then went upstairs with Lily to brew her a pick-me-up and work on another set of problems.

"Think of it this way Sev, you're getting practice for Potions and Arithmancy at the same time."

"Or I could this of it the right way, as enabling an addict."

"Well if you didn't brew it I would."

"That isn't funny Lily."

"Honestly, it's worse than I thought it would be. You know, weaning off the potions. It isn't that I'm sad but I just, feel sick all the time. I'm worried about having to get through a black-out without them."

Lily shifted awkwardly in her chair and looked at the floor.

"Don't worry Lily, I'll be there to help you through. As for the blackouts, we'll figure out what's causing them and treat them properly."

Snape tried to sound reassuring but it didn't seem like he was successful.

Once the potion was finished and Snape felt himself going cross-eyed, the pair called it a night. Lily wanted to sleep in her room and although he was worried, Snape was glad because he wasn't sure he could handle another night in the same room as Rosier. Snape was walking Lily to the Gryffindor common room when they heard a strange noise coming from around the corner, it sounded like someone dragging a large carpet over the stone floor of the hallway. Snape and Lily both looked at each other before walking towards the source of the noise. Lily was ahead of Snape and he heard her gasp. Snape picked up his pace and came up beside Lily who had just rounded the corner. He saw what made her gasp; The Grey Lady, Ravenclaw's ghost was twirling in midair, paralyzed and on the floor next to her was Fateen, petrified.


	24. Bubble, Bubble, Forget Your Troubles

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Chapter 24: Bubble, Bubble, Forget Your Troubles

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: I've been gone a while haven't I? I have a good reason, I do. Take me at my word.

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When the shock wore off Lily and Snape looked at each other knowingly. There was no way it was a coincidence that they happened upon this scene before anyone else. Lily walked up to the ghost instead of her friend.

"I didn't know ghosts could be petrified."

"I don't think, I mean technically she isn't petrified."

"Well what is she then? She can't be dead… or can ghosts, er… re-die?"

Snape just shrugged and said,

"Come on let's get out of her before someone sees us and gets the wrong idea."

Lily nodded and they slipped away into another hallway. They hadn't been walking more than a minute when they heard someone scream and they knew another student walking back to their dorms had found Fateen and the Ravenclaw ghost.

"Get going Severus, I'll go find a teacher."

As Snape crept away he saw Lily turn right around back towards where Fateen was found. Snape shrugged and then spun around to head back upstairs to the 7th floor but stopped after taking just two steps. Why was she going back? Lily wasn't in her right mind, she was detoxing. There was no way anyone would believe she just happened to be walking by, not with so many rumours and accusations flying around.

Silently Snape followed behind Lily and watched as she, herself, crept next to the scene where Fateen and the Ravenclaw ghost stood frozen. A small girl, 3rd year at most, was staring at the figures and stood so still that she seemed part of the petrified panorama herself. Oddly quickly someone else arrived at the scene. It was Wormtail. Lily let out a small laugh and took out her wand. Fearful of what she might be thinking, or what mindset she was in, Snape crept up behind Lily and grabbed her wand hand, stopping her from casting whatever spell towards the girl and Wormtail.

"Sev!"

Lily whispered rather harshly,

"What are you doing here? You need to leave!"

"Why? What are you doing Lily?"

Snape's initial worry that Lily was having some sort of episode was appeased as she seemed clear minded and in control but Snape was nonetheless confused and curious. For a moment Lily seemed like she was going to explain but something made her go stock still in panic. She grabbed Snape's wrist and dragged him a few paces from their hiding place into a darkened nook hidden by a suit of armour. She pulled down her cloak, shirt and bra strap off one shoulder in a single motion then forced Snape's hand around her waist. Lily took a quick glance over Snape's shoulder which was paralyzed from surprise, before pressing herself against his hips rather forcefully.

He should have heard them but Snape was reeling with shock and confusion at Lily's behavior, thinking perhaps she was losing it. Certainly Lily heard them far down the hall, but it wasn't until he felt her hand clasp around his shoulder and spin him around that Snape knew Professor McGonagall had also arrived on the scene.

"Mr. Snape! Miss Evans! What in the world!"

Much to Lily's satisfaction the bewilderment was still showing clearly on Snape's face, so much so that McGonagall believed her interruption was the cause of it. Lily hid her face in false embarrassment and slowly, in order to produce the greatest effect, pulled up her shirt and adjusted her skirt which had bunched up as she was pressed against Snape.

"It's just about curfew and here you are, and a prefect…. in my house no less! I am very disappointed! This is not the example you should be setting for your juniors!"

McGonagall was extremely riled up but also rather awkward and Lily did her best to match the dark shade of red that was beginning to appear on the Professor's face.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor will be taken, same from Slytherin Mr. Snape. Be assured I will be informing Professor Slughorn of this transgression! Now both of you to bed before I take away another fifty points each for being out of bed after hours!"

"But Professor I'm a Prefect so technically…"

"That may well be the case for now Miss Evans but should this behavior continue I should doubt you'll remain at that post much longer!"

"What? Lupin has been neglecting his duties for years and yet I'm caught snogging once and I'm being threatened with dismissal? Honestly I don't see how that's fair!"

Snape looked at Lily in disbelief. She should be happy to get out of there with just a few points taken off but here she was making a ruckus and instigating McGonagall. And… and… did she say snogging?

McGonagall looked at Snape, hoping no doubt he would be the weak link in the chain but Snape was just staring at Lily with his mouth slightly open. Seeing this McGonagall's expression softened somewhat, perhaps she believed Snape was slightly traumatized by being caught in such a position.

"We will discuss this tomorrow, for now return to your room."

"Fine!"

Lily snapped back and staked off. The professor turned just as quickly and walked in the direction of Fateen and The Grey Lady. Finding himself alone, Snape shook his head and practically ran all the way to the 7th floor.

When he walked into the Room of Requirement that was serving as Headquarters for his and Lily's investigations he sat in a chair and fanned himself slightly with a stack of Arithmancy calculations. He was supposed to be walking Lily to her common room… that was all, but somehow it had turned into a strange and bizarre series of events. Snape's eyes stung and his head was beginning to pound. Why was Wormtail there? Where was his usual posse? Why hadn't McGonagall, who was obviously suspicious of the two of them, not inquired if they had heard or seen anything suspicious? Was she certain that they would lie? Was she really so distracted by the ruse Lily had thought up? He stopped and looked at the unfinished Arithmancy exercises in his hand. Written Arithmancy in the morning, first brew a potion for Lily, then potions practical in the afternoon, another potion for Lily after, ask her what happened and.. and what else? Was Snape forgetting anything? Snape stood up suddenly and kicked the desk he was sitting at in frustration. Why couldn't he just catch a break?

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The darkness was broken by small sputters of light, as though fireworks were going off somewhere far away. His footsteps made no sound though he felt himself propelled forward at an easy pace. It was suspiciously warm in a comforting sort of way. Up ahead Lily was lying on her back, arms sprawled at her sides and eyes closed. She looked like she was asleep but a small smiled played on her lips.

"Sev, have you ever wondered what would have happened if we hadn't met? If, when we walked into Hogwarts for the sorting ceremony, it was the first time we saw each other?"

Snape blinked several times. He was sure he had heard Lily's voice but he was looking right at her and her lips didn't move.

"I have."

Lily's voice echoed once more. Snape looked down at Lily's effortless beauty and simple peace and questioned whether this is how she would feel today were it not for their meeting. The Lily in pain and sadness would not exist.

Suddenly he was looking at himself in a mirror and in the reflection was Lily, now far behind him still lying down perfectly content with her eyes closed. He looked back up at himself and saw he had become James Potter, the reflection was smiling in a way Snape never had. The reflection of James and Snape looked at each other for what seemed like hours until the manifestation started to laugh, a shrill and maddening laugh, before asking,

"Do you want to know more Mr. Snape?"

Snape gasped as he awoke.

He looked up at the ceiling of the Room of Requirement and ran his hands through his greasy hair. He sighed and peeled himself out of his pajamas. As he turned on the shower in the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom the Room had made for him, Snape allowed small flashbacks from his dream to wash over him along with the steamy water. His subconscious and his guilty conscious were merging into one it seemed. He could rationalize himself out of direct fault but Snape had always felt his mere presence in Lily's life was holding her back. A drop of ink in a clear lake, a thick fog obscuring her gold-paved road. What good things had come to Lily from their friendship? Even the term useless felt like too praising a word. She should be happy, she could be happy.

But what was he to do now that he was in her life? That she had become this way… like the father he despised and the mother he longed to heal. Lily had become very much like the both of them. That small voice in the back of his mind that had always whispered to him had been set loose by the dream and now screamed inside Snape making his heart burn with pain.

My fault.

The sound of the rushing water and the pinpricks of the water drops suddenly became unbearable and Snape sank beneath them to the bottom of the bathtub. He knew he had to get out of the shower; that he had to get dressed and brew Lily a potion and head to his Arithmancy exam but… he just couldn't. The water was too heavy and the echoing sound deprived him of his balance. So he just laid there letting the water numb him and letting the rush of the splattering water drops drown out his thoughts. A small smile snaked its way onto his lips as he closed his eyes. The image of Lily as she was in his dream flashed before his eyes startling him awake. He breathed in sharply, accidentally taking more water into his lungs than air. As he choked and coughed small sparks of light scattered across his vision from lack of air. It was warm, in a comforting sort of way. Snape struggled out of the shower still coughing and pulled himself to his feet by grasping onto the sink. He looked up and saw himself in the steam-obscured bathroom mirror. His face looked sullen and deformed as though he was wearing a mask of burned flesh, and his eyes looked like two black holes through the condensation. Afraid his reflection would ask the question he had shaken from his mind for months, Snape screamed and he broke the mirror with his hand before he ran from the bathroom, leaving only an echo and a trail of dark blood behind.

iiiiiiiiiii

A sleepy Lily sat at the desk in the Room of Requirement with a potion flask and a plate of food in front of her. She eyed both items suspiciously.

"I don't think I can eat."

"You have to Lily, it's always better to take the potion with something in your stomach."

"I don't think I can drink that either, I don't feel good."

"It's a normal part of detoxing but you have to try and get through it."

Snape was feeling better after his Arithmancy exam, he had poured himself into the numbers and thought of nothing else.

Begrudgingly Lily stabbed a few potatoes with her fork and reluctantly stuffed them into her mouth, chewing slowly. Snape gave an encouraging half smile and walked back to his cauldron. He had made enough to last a few days but it wouldn't be safe to leave the potion unattended around Lily, just in case she was tempted. He divided the remaining potion into 6 flasks and stored them in a locked section of his trunk, careful to make sure Lily wasn't watching. A painstaking 30 minutes later Lily had eaten half the food and downed the potion. Snape found this acceptable and he and Lily made their way towards the potions classroom.

"How did you sleep last night?"

Lily only groaned in response. She was definitely in a bad mood. When they reached the potions classroom they found that several students were already waiting anxiously. Among them was Pettigrew, who standing around and chatting with the Marauders. Seeing him Lily rolled her eyes and walked towards the group.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily stood with her arms crossed in front of Wormtail. Slowly everyone fell silent and turned towards Lily and the Marauders.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't have potions, you didn't pass the OWL remember? So why are you here?"

Wormtail shifted awkwardly and Potter spoke up.

"Peter can be here if he likes Lily, we were just talking."

Ignoring Potter Lily said,

"You seem to be in all sorts of places these days Pettigrew. At the most interesting times too. What exactly have you been doing with all your spare time, I mean you have what, 3 classes, that can't be keeping you that busy."

"F,f,funny you should say that. You seem to turn up in some interesting places yourself. L..l..like last night."

Potter interjected,

"Last night?"

"Yeah, she was up there, I heard McGonagall yelling at them. She was right next to where Fateen was attacked, always seems to be around…"

Pettigrew trailed off as Lily stepped towards him with an angry expression on her face.

"Yes well then I guess you know why we were there then. Question is why were you there?"

"I went to visit Mary."

"Ha! Is that so?"

"You went to visit Mary by yourself? What were you doing there last night Lily?"

"Butt out Potter, this isn't your business!"

Lily snapped at Potter and took out her wand, pointing it straight at Pettigrew.

"Don't think you can fool me you filthy little rat!"

Snape felt he had to step in at this point. Lily was understandably cranky but she didn't need to get herself in trouble because of it. Potter seemed to be thinking the same thing as stepped in front of Wormtail, blocking him from Lily's path.

"Move Potter."

"If you have a problem with Peter you have a problem with me."

Even as he said it, James looked as though he wasn't sure and Black looked at him incredulously.

Lily scoffed and raised her wand but before she could cast as much as a levitation charm Snape grabbed her wrist and forcibly lowered her wand. Lily struggled against him so Snape spun her around to face him. Snape wasn't expecting what he saw on Lily's face. He could feel her quick pulse pounding against his fingers as he held her wrist, but nothing on her face betrayed her anger. Her face was calm, unnervingly so. Snape gazed into her eyes, trying to see inside her mind, to see what she was thinking.

"Now, now what do we have here?"

Snape's concentration was splintered as a new arrival broke the tense silence that had settled in the hallway.

"No reason to look so worried now, I'm sure you all have studied up enough to pass. I suppose NEWT levels are a bit tougher but I'm sure you'll all manage!"

Professor Slughorn winked and gave a hearty laugh as he opened the door to the classroom. Wordlessly, Lily followed into the classroom and throughout the whole exam did not once look at Snape. In fact her eyes never wavered from her cauldron.

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It was clear that by dinner everyone in the school knew why Snape and Lily had been reprimanded by Professor McGonagall the previous night. Second and Third years openly gaped at them as they walked in the hall together and Fifth year girls would huddle up and whisper to each other as soon as they passed. Snape expected this, but when he saw nothing strange in the morning he assumed no one cared. Now that everyone was giving them knowing smirks it was obvious that Pettigrew had chosen to withhold the information, until this afternoon. The question was why? Why wouldn't he eagerly spill such an interesting tid-bit of information the first chance he got? Why had Lily provoked him when she knew he likely overheard McGonagall and could potentially spread such a rumour? Had she assumed he already told someone and that was why she went postal on him before the potions exam? Snape could ask himself until he brain went numb but he still couldn't make sense of it and Lily was of no help. She had done nothing but grunt when Snape asked her how the exam went and said nothing else in response to his other questions.

Thinking it was probably a stupid idea to eat in the Great Hall, Snape and Lily made a detour to the kitchens, grabbed some food and made their way up to the 7th floor, doing their best not to attract any more attention. Once safely inside Snape gave Lily a potion and she ate a little. Seeing as questions about the exams had gotten the best response from Lily he tried to steer the conversation in that direction.

"How do you think the Defense Against the Dark Arts written exam is going to be?"

Lily shrugged.

"Thursdays you have History of Magic too right? But that's just a written exam. Are you going to have it tomorrow or next week?"

"Tomorrow."

_Yes,_ thought Snape, _an actual word!_

"Lots of writing tomorrow, huh, do you need any extra quills?"

Lily put her fork down and looked up at Snape.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"These stupid rumours, it's all my fault."

"Oh, that, don't worry Lily I've had worse rumours spread about me. Remember 4th year when Potter convinced everyone I got dark powers from my hair and that was why I wouldn't wash it?"

Lily smiled weakly.

"Yeah, a First year tried to shave your hair off to impress Potter, ended up with only one eyebrow."

"Served the little arsehole right."

"Still, I feel like I should apologize."

"Is that why you snapped at Pettigrew this afternoon?"

When he asked this, Lily tensed and looked at Snape with a serious expression. Snape knew he was pushing his luck but it was worth a try.

"Be careful around him, Pettigrew isn't as useless as he looks."

Answered Lily.

"You think he wasn't there by coincidence?"

Lily nodded no.

Snape had never considered Pettigrew anything more than a nuisance. Without Potter and Black backing him up, he was powerless. That said, if one of the Marauders were up to something they could be using Pettigrew to draw suspicion away from themselves.

"How is Fateen?"

Lily shrugged again.

"Petrified. Nothing I or anyone else can do for her until the Mandrakes mature. A small batch should be ready soon, enough to restore Mary and Fateen anyways."

"And the Grey Lady?"

"I don't know, I don't think that she would drink the… um, I don't know how that works maybe I should look it up."

Lily got up, her food barely touched.

"Wait where are you going?"

"Library, to look up petrified ghosts and besides I need to study for two exams, unlike some people who only have one."

"Hey you only had one while I had two today!"

Lily mocked Snape's tone and then walked away leaving Snape slightly embarrassed and flustered. Snape grabbed his half eaten chicken drumstick and followed Lily. She didn't seem grossed out or bothered by the rumours one bit. Even though it was really nothing, the thought made Snape feel somewhat elated.


	25. Hang on Tight!

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Chapter 25: Hang on Tight!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **JupiterJack567** Snape did indeed invent _sectumsempra_, however, it was something he developed over time. He took a spell that already existed and altered it to make it more powerful, at least that's what I'm going with. I don't suspect Snape came up with most of his spells out of thin air. **bookivore** even once Voldemort came back his horcruxes, like the locket, continued to act of their own will. **Athene** thank you, on top of moving I have several other stresses keeping me from writing (although my angst poetry collection is flourishing), I hope you review more!

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape woke up and stretched. Instead of hopping out of bed to begin busying himself, Snape decided to just lay there a while. He took a deep breath and smelled fresh pine and gingerbread. Christmas. The first week of December was almost over and it seemed like Dumbledore finally gave the go-ahead to decorate, even if the school could be closed any day now. The Room of Requirement was no exception. Like magic, and likely with, the room was decorated with numerous wreaths and garlands. Snape closed his eyes and imagined Lily and himself skating down the Seine in Paris. Caught in a moment of optimism Snape decided he was going to make a move on Lily in Paris. Yes, he would. Maybe at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and it had to be snowing.

Snape was in such a good mood he started humming a carol while he was brushing his teeth.

"Someone's in the spirit!"

Lily came giggling into the bathroom. She too was beaming.

"You should see the Great Hall, it looks beautiful. Really outdid themselves this year, suppose they are trying to keep everyone's mind off, you know the attacks."

"You went downstairs already?"

"Yeah, couldn't sleep too well."

"Is it the withdrawal?"

"Maybe. It could just be stress though. Anyways today is the last day of exams for the week! Just gotta get through this and everything will be fine, everything will be fine."

"Until next week that is."

"Shush it you! Don't ruin my happiness mantra! Rubbing in your 1 exam…"

"It was just chance that I only had one exam the last day."

"Yeah well no need to show off. I can already feel the hand cramp I'm going to have from the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, should have taken Divination instead, it's at the same time, I'd ace that."

"Hahaa! I wonder why they put them at the same time."

"Well if you can see danger coming you wouldn't need to defend yourself would you?"

"Touché."

Lily smiled brightly and Snape momentarily considered it would be worth being wrong for the rest of his life if it made Lily smile like that.

iiiiiiiiiii

"Gahhhhhh! The pain!"

Lily just emerged from the exam room clutching her hand and in dramatic manner.

"I can't go on, History of Magic exams always have essays. Sev, break my hand so I'll get out of it."

"That'll just hurt more than the cramp and Pomfrey will fix you up in no time. You won't get excused."

"Then you go in my place, we'll magic your hair red. Binns will never know the difference."

Snape smiled and jokingly pushed Lily, who was clinging onto his cloak, away. Just as Lily started to laugh too Potter, Lupin and Black also stepped out of the room. As though they could feel their ominous presence without seeing them both Snape and Lily turned back towards them.

"Guess the rumors are true then?"

It was Black who spoke. James had his hands in his pockets and was looking at the ground. A few other students turned at Black's voice and looked at Lily and Snape. Lily flipped her hair and, feigning ignorance, asked,

"What rumours?"

"Lily don't you know that as a prefect you have to uphold the honour of the House of Gryffindor?"

"Huh, please. As if Lupin is some sort of great example."

Lupin, who had been staring straight ahead, allowed his eyes to flick to Lily for a moment before he went back to staring at the wall. This seemed to annoy Lily, she walked up to the group.

"What's wrong Potter? Jealous? You shouldn't be, I mean how would Mary feel if she was here?"

"Why would I be jealous of that pathetic ball of slime?"

Potter shouted, but he didn't looking at Lily when he did, he was staring Snape down.

"You have some nerve calling him pathetic. How many years have you chased after me now? Huh? Five and a half isn't it? Why don't you just give it a rest?"

"Why are you always defending him? Can't he speak for himself?"

"No Potter, Snape doesn't speak. After all these years I figured you'd have cottoned on. He curses, very well might I add."

"Yah he's got a mouth like sailor. What could you possibly find attractive, in…. THAT?"

Black gestured toward Snape with both hands and took on an exasperated tone.

"Why? Why when you could have Potter. I mean, he'd lay down his life for you Lily!"

Lily smirked.

"I bet Mary would blow a gasket if she heard this. So is it true Potter? Would you die for me?"

Potter didn't lift his head but a faint "Yes." was heard.

Everyone seemed terribly touched by James' honesty. Lily looked less impressed.

"Talk is cheap. I don't think you really feel anything for me. I think I've become a habit, a big joke. Why else would you treat someone so important to me so awfully? It's all just pride. I'm a trophy you want to win."

Potter slowly lifted his head as Lily spoke.

"It doesn't matter if we are together or not, as far as your pride is concerned if I don't hate Severus its some sort of loss to you isn't it? If you really loved me you'd accept my friends."

"Friends?"

"Believe what you want I don't care. But don't go around acting like you're some big deal. You are an insolent, undeserving, spoiled, arrogant little prat and I'd no sooner date you than I'd hang myself from the astronomy tower."

Snape felt like he was having a moment of déjà vu. Lily then turned to Black, Lupin and Pettigrew who seemed to have materialized at some point in the argument. Snape stayed back with his hand on his wand just in case.

"And as for you, Lupin. Do your damn job properly, if you can't be a prefect then step down. Don't think that this pity party is going to last forever! And you, Mr. Not-So-Sirius, how about you fix your own personal life before giving others tips, huh? You'd pretty much shag anything that jiggled!"

Lily turned to leave but then reconsidered and turned back.

"And when Mary is un-petrified you will explain this to her and either apologize or break up with her. I won't have you toying with her just because I'm no longer providing enough entertainment."

Then Lily stalked off and Snape motioned to joined her but Potter called out his name. Snape stopped and turned his head slightly in Potter's direction.

"You heard her right? You're just friend, don't get any crazy fantasies going."

Snape just smirked and stalked away. He honestly didn't know what he would have said to Potter. He knew there wasn't anything between Lily and he but it sort of hurt to hear. The miniature figures of he and Lily that were happily skating in his head suddenly fell and the ice beneath them crumbled causing them both to fall in. After a few tense moments a lone skate floated to the top. The dream was dead. But at least they were friends right? Right?

iiiiiiiiiii

Lily and Snape hadn't talked much during lunch as Lily was still fuming and studying for her History of Magic exam. When she took off Snape just weakly smiled and waved, unable to say anything. As soon as she was gone he fell into a chair and sulked until she came back with two plates of food for them to eat. Lily didn't seem to be in the best of moods either, she kept stabbing at her potatoes without really eating them. So they both just sat there pretending to eat. The cheery, festive atmosphere seemed to be mocking them and the holly centerpiece on the table just seemed pretentious. Snape glanced through the red holly petals at Lily's sunken expression and knew it likely mirrored his own. Snape was trying to come up with something to say and Lily was lost in her thoughts and neither realized they had been sitting there for a good half an hour, the food now stone cold.

"If they keep serving us this holiday roast every night we'll all get sick of it by the time Christmas comes 'round."

Lily looked up suddenly and smiled at Snape's words but the smile vanished as soon as it had appeared. Lily took a courtesy mouthful of food only to discover it was cold and grimaced as she forced herself to chew the food and swallow it. Then she put her fork down and pushed her chair away from the table.

"Should probably call it a night. I haven't gotten much sleep this week so I should, you know, catch up."

"Yeah. Yeah you should I guess. Do you have enough potion to keep you going?"

"Yeah I should… be okay."

"So, what happened with, you know before. Was it the symptoms?"

"Yeah, a bit I guess, I just… I don't know how he does it but Potter just manages to irk me, well like magic."

"He, you know seemed sincere."

"Yeah, I'm sure he thinks he is but, you know I don't wanna talk about this."

"Yeah, I get it, you know, I didn't want to bring it up and, you know make it worse or anything."

"No, I don't think that."

Lily avoided eye contact and played with her hair behind her back. There were a few moments of awkward silence when no one moved.

"So I guess I'll go then."

"Yeah night Lily."

"Night Severus."

Lily was just nearly at the door when Snape suddenly had the urge to say it, just to see how she'd respond.

"Hey Lily. I'm... I'm really glad we're friends."

Lily slowly turned around to face Snape.

"Me too. Friends."

She gave that half-hearted smile again before walking out of the room.

Snape walked straight into bed and pressed his face into his pillow. The day had started out so hopeful and was now, well just another rollercoaster ride. It seemed more mood swings were going to be in Snape's future as long as Lily was around. And Severus couldn't honestly say he was enjoying it.

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Morning. Whatever. Snape had zero desire to get out of bed. None. What so ever. He was determined to remain behind his bed curtains and squalor in gloom until that annoyingly cheery sun set. Friends, pfft, what a stupid word.

About an hour into his self pity party, Snape heard the door open. Then the pitter-patter of excited feet scuttling across the office to the door of his bedroom.

"Sev, you up?"

It was Lily. What was she so happy about?

"Sev?"

Lily whispered again before she slowly opened the door and peered inside. Snape decided to try and pretend to be asleep so she'd leave him alone. She may be all happy and chipper but Snape was still in his dark place and he kinda like it there, he didn't need her trying to pull him out.

"Sev, it's me. You up?"

_Of course it's you, who else would it be?_

"You won't believe what I found!"

_Is it someone else to bother?_

"Are you really sleeping?"

Snape adjusted himself slightly, trying to make it look like she was waking him.

"Well, alright then. I guess I'll just have to go back to Westminister Palace all by myself and see if this is true."

_Westminister? The clock tower? Lattimer?_

Snape stretched out and yawned.

"Oh Lily, what are you doing here?"

Lily smiled knowingly and in an obvious tone said,

"Oh sorry Sev, I didn't mean to wake you. Forgive me?"

"How could I stay mad at you anyways? What brings you here so early?"

"It's 11:30 Sev. It's so weird everyone is either writing exams or they've left for the weekend so the hallways are all deserted and echo-y."

"You came here to tell me that?"

"No Mr. Grumpy. Look at this!"

Lily handed Snape a piece of torn paper with a set of runes on it.

"You found someone's trash?"

"No! Remember how I made copies of a bunch of stuff in Lattimer's office in the clock tower? Well this got swept in with my other papers. I ignored it but then I remembered where it came from. It was under that troll foot paper weight."

"And…?"

"And!"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Snape why would someone like Lattimer keep a set of runes underneath a very heavy paper weight on his desk and nothing else?"

"Because he's crazy?"

"No because it's important. Muggles do it all the time, they will write passwords on a piece of paper and tape it to the bottom of the staplers or kick-knacks on their desks. That way if they forget it it'll be close at hand but not lying around where anyone can see it."

"That's a bit of a stretch Lily. We didn't find a safe or anything that needed a password."

"No we didn't, but neither did he."

"What?"

"Remember what the people in the painting said? He was angry, he didn't find what he needed. What if it's still there and this is the password?"

"Why would he keep the password for something so important in such an obviously place?"

"Exactly because it's an obvious place. Hidden in plain sight!"

"I don't know Lily."

"Think about it! He is all about being super secretive and having complex protections and he would assume that Lattimer would do the same, trying to outdo him. But by making it so simple, Lattimer made sure the he would just overlook it, whatever it is and wherever it is."

Snape was still skeptical and really didn't feel like going on another pointless adventure. Not to mention nothing good had come out of investigating that place the first time.

"Come on Severus! Don't you feel we missed something there? Those people in the painting know more than they are telling us. We need to go back and have a better look."

"Can we even go though? Isn't it open to the public now?"

"Sure it is but no one goes to the keeper's office as part of the tours. We can go with a tour group and slip away. Muggles never notice anything."

"Funny that a muggle born would say that."

"Well yes, I would know then wouldn't I?"

Lily seemed to have given up on convincing Snape by being nice.

"Well are you going to come with me or not?"

"Alright, alright, let me get dressed! What do we tell McGonagall and Slughorn."

"We're going to Hogsmede for some last minute shopping?"

Snape shrugged, Slughorn would believe it but McGonagall would be a bit trickier. Snape got his clothes on quickly and packed a few things just in case then went downstairs with Lily.

The first exam of the day was over and people were eating lunch in the Great Hall. Lily and Snape began to walk out across the Entrance Hall when,

"Miss Evans, Mr. Snape!"

"Shizer!"

Lily whispered under her breath. Then she turned toward the professor and in a sweet voice asked,

"Yes Professor McGonagall?"

"Where are you going?"

"Oh just down to Hogsmede to get a few last minute things for our trip to Paris."

"Can't you order it?"

"Well we should really have a look at things before we buy them don't you think Severus?"

"Uhh yeah."

"Can't it wait until next week when the official Hogsmeade Weekend is scheduled?"

"We could but it would be cutting it really close since we leave the next day… I mean we couldn't even really go next week we'll be so busy. Wouldn't it make more sense we make our trip this weekend?"

"Well…"

McGonagall was obviously debating between Lily's rather logical explanation and the intuitive suspicion that they weren't really going shopping, although she probably was assuming other activities to be on their list than really was.

"I suppose so."

Lily gave a noticeable jump of glee.

"We'll be back before curfew!"

Lily yelled as she and Snape made their way out of the castle.

"I should certainly hope so!"

McGonagall looked at the pair leaving for a few more seconds before she turned her attention back to the Great Hall.

"She totally bought it!"

"I don't think she bought it totally Lily."

"Well we can go so that's good enough. Gosh it's cold!"

Snape concurred and shivered instinctively. He should be in his warm bed today, sleeping and moping and pretending yesterday never happened. But then again Lily seemed happy and her laughter was so damn infectious. Snape smiled slightly as he watched her skip through the snow but whenever she turned he would fix his face back into frozen displeasure. It was fun to tease her.


	26. A Lifetime or More

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Chapter 26: A Lifetime or More

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: I used some phrases directly from books 3 and 6 in this chapter.

**Every review is like an early Christmas present! 3**

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It's warmer now.

The cold water that filled my lungs is transformed into warm air.

The panic subsides and I become lucid once more.

This dizzy numbness that I welcome washes over me,

like a warm spring breeze through the leaves of the Forbidden Forest.

It's quiet here.

There is no repetitive shouting or ringing anymore.

Sweet silence indeed, I can taste it on my tongue.

Clean, crisp air fills my lungs once more.

The simple act of breathing makes me laugh with joy.

It's safe here.

The tingly fear that rose up through me with each step I took,

is now a muted memory which no longer threatens my peaceful sleep.

My heart swells as I shake with laughter.

The panging pain stitched into my heart is stretched out and banished.

It's right here.

It falls from my hands and the empty clank reverberates.

That hollow sounds begins to fill me as well.

The warmth is gone and suddenly I am sinking again.

I reached out my hands and I feel my sweet savior on my lips.

It's warmer now.

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It was madness, pure and utter madness. London was filled to capacity with busy shoppers sloshing about on the sidewalks dragging laden bags and cranky children as they went. The normal buzz of the city had grown into a frenzy, every sound magnified on a background of Christmas carols looping endlessly from every store and shop. With each step Snape wished he had stayed home more and more. Lily was up ahead wading through the swarm in a determined fashion; the afternoon tour was starting soon and she would not be late. Snape followed behind in the gap Lily made in the crowd and soon enough they had arrived at the dreaded clock tower.

Lily and Snape joined the tour group which was made up of a class of highschoolers and two teachers. The tour guide, a rather large man who looked more the part of a butler than a guide, eyed the group of uniform-clad students with distaste but not more so than Snape.

"What's his problem?"

"I think it's the hair. Very un-muggle… well un-straight and narrow muggle anyways. You'd be a hit with Sex Pistol groupies."

"W..What?"

"Nevermind the tour is starting."

"The clock became operational on 7th September 1859."

The tour guide spoke with a thick South Wales accent. Lily was pretending to read a brochure as Snape stared at the floor waiting for Lily's signal.

"There are cells in the tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege."

"Cells? Like a chokey?"

The students broke their bored stares as the tallest and burliest of the group posed his question.

"Well yes, but they have hardly ever been used."

"Wicked."

The boy then turned to Lily and said,

"Fancy a turn in one of em? You know pressed up against the bars?"

"Oi!"

Snape had had enough of Potter speaking to Lily that way; he wasn't going to have some half brain-dead muggle ogre do it here.

"Nigel Pinfield! I have had enough of your foul mouth. We will deal with this when your parents arrive for your disciplinary meeting later today. Now you will be civil for the remainder of this trip or I shall see it that you are expelled, regardless of your parents 'contributions'."

The teacher who reprimanded Mr. Pinfield had a very McGonagall-like countenance and for a moment Snape wasn't altogether sure that good old McGonagall had not followed them.

"So sorry, Miss but you know how these young lads get these days."

"Oh, no worry at all."

Lily gave an awkward smile but she looked upset. Snape knew it was because this attention meant it would be more difficult for them to slip away without using magic. The teacher seemed to think Lily was genuinely offended and gave Nigel another stern look before the group continued. As they passed by the corridor with the cells Snape tried to block Lily from Mr. Pinhead's view but it seemed horny teenagers could come up with the most interesting plans.

One of the girls in the group screamed and everyone turned in her direction.

"Oh crap did you see it? Ahhh!"

"What, what is it Eunice?"

"It was a rat, a huge gross looking rat!"

"Everyone calm down, every now and then a rodent will have escaped the traps."

"This is the parliament building, shouldn't it be kept clean? Honestly where are our tax dollars going?"

In all the fuss no one noticed Mr. Pinhead's absence until,

*BAM*

"Ahh! What are you doing?"

Snape turned and saw that the gorilla called Nigel had dragged Lily into one of the cells and locked the door. Everyone rushed up to the door where only a small window with bars on it allowed anyone to see what was happening inside, and it couldn't be good.

"Nigel Gillian Pinfield open this door this very instant and let that girl go!"

"Oh piss off Mrs. Bickford, its right difficult to keep a stiffy with your voice going off in the background."

"Let me go I don't want to hurt you kid."

"Don't really think you're in much of a position to make a fuss lass. Kid huh? Older woman, I like that."

"Open this door right now."

"I haven't got the keys on me, they're in the office, I'll just..."

The tour guide waddled off as Snape considered whether he should use magic to just break down the door or to kill this idiot as well. Snape walked up to the window on the door and everyone moved out of his way.

"Lily, are you alright?"

"Fine except that I feel I might be breaking some sort of laws by watching this kid undress."

"Undress? Why is he undressing?"

"Why do you think mate? It's so much easier getting right to it if my clothes are off first."

"See you've done this before huh?"

Lily did not sound afraid. She could use magic but there will be trouble. They would have to explain why they weren't shopping in Hogsmeade but surely the use of magic would be justified even if it was against a muggle and Lily was underage, considering he was threatening rape.

"Lily, go for it, I'll back you up if the Council charges you."

"Oh I don't think that'll be necessary Severus. You see, Nigel was it? This isn't my first time either."

It seemed Lily had a plan, whatever it was Snape had to make sure none of the other muggles saw anything. The fewer memories they had to wipe the more lenient Magical Law Enforcement was. Mrs. Bickford was glancing between the cell door and the hallway where the tour guide had disappeared. Snape also wished the fat fuck would hurry up.

Lily pulled a tube of lipstick from her messenger bag and slowly applied it never taking her eyes off Nigel. She pressed her lips together and Snape wondered whether she would play along to buy time.

"I love red lipstick on women."

Lily simply smiled and Mr. Pinhead moved in to kiss her. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion for Severus, Lily and this pervert were actually kissing, the kiss seemed to last forever but then Snape noticed something was wrong. Nigel had gone rigid and Lily was now forcibly holding his head so he couldn't end the kiss. Then Lily let go and the boy fell to the floor.

"You know what Nigel? I think it looks better on you."

The boy didn't respond. In fact he wasn't moving at all. He was lying on the floor, unmoving. Lily stepped over his body and unlocked the door. As she stepped from the room, the tour guide appeared, sweat rolling off his shiny forehead.

"What... what happened?"

Lily looked back at Nigel lying on the floor then at the tour guide and the shocked group of students and said,

"No clue, I think he had some sort of fit. Best call a doctor."

The tour guide walked into the cell and checked the student's pulse.

"He's alive. I think he just fainted. Might have had some sort of fit that made him get all aggressive."

The teacher then spoke up,

"Perhaps he has some sort of mental illness; it would explain his poor behavior. Well let's call the hospital and get him checked out."

An annoyingly nonchalant Lily said,

"If no one objects, I think we will call it a day, certainly this has been very upsetting."

She spoke the words but her face betrayed no emotion.

"Yes of course dear. My sincere apologies, I would never have expected this from him. A bit aggressive but he's never done anything like this."

"Yes well, if that's all."

Lily walked away and Snape followed, awestruck. When they were on the stairs on their way down to Lattimer's old room, Snape stopped and asked,

"Lily what happened? What did you do?"

"Nothing."

Snape grabbed Lily's arm to stop her walking.

"Come off it Lily. Did you use a spell?"

"No but let's just say I wouldn't recommend you kiss me anytime soon."

"Why? What's in the lipstick?"

"Nothing the muggles will pick up on. Now let's go we don't have all day."

Snape held onto Lily's arms and looked down at her. Her eyes were glazed over and her cheeks were flush as though she had enjoyed the encounter in the cell. She pressed her lips together again and her eyes slipped closed. There was something terribly seductive about Lily in that moment and Snape was drawn to her lips. He felt himself drawn in… but then he remembered what happened to Nigel and pulled away. Lily, too, snapped out of her reverie and continued on towards Lattimer's door.

Something was very, very wrong but Snape didn't know what. This whole place was giving him the creeps; he knew he should have just stayed home today. They were standing in front of Lattimer's old office and even before they opened the door, both of them could tell something was different.

Ash. It covered every inch of Lattimer's office. Several of the bookshelves had scorch marks on them and piles of ashes filled the gaps between books. It was as though several objects in the room had spontaneously combusted. Piles of papers on Lattimer's desk had become piles of ash. Lily and Snape looked at each other; no natural fire was so well behaved, there was no way a fire would have curved around certain objects leaving them untouched while their neighbors were reduced to dust.

"What happened here?"

Lily's question rang in the room and was answered with silence. The soot made the room look dreary and inhospitable much like the empty picture frames that hung lopsided from every wall. Lily walked up to one of them and straightened it.

"Where is everyone?"

Snape and Lily turned to the only two paintings that still had occupants. Only the goldsmiths and the three hags remained, eyeing the two arrivals suspiciously. One of the women in the painting addressed Lily.

"You two came back huh?"

"Yes, we still have some questions."

"Like what?"

"What happened here? Did Lattimer's protection spell activate when we came before?"

Protection spell? What was Lily talking about?

"No it wasn't you two. A couple weeks ago someone tried to break in and poof, anything magical burned right up."

"And all the other paintings were afraid, so they fled."

"I'd have done the same but…"

"You're well protected. Well it's good you're still here, we need some answers."

Lily bend down so she was level with the painting.

"And why would we tell you anything?"

The hags seemed less keen on speaking to Lily than the terrified goldsmiths.

"Because we are out of time. Things are happening, people are dying. Whatever your secrets are you can choose to tell me them and live or die with them."

"You dare to threaten us?"

Lily took out her wand,

"I don't do threats."

The goldsmiths huddled together in their painting and one of the women backed away but the other two stubbornly crossed their arms. Lily smiled, it was that same smile, the one… right before she kissed Nigel. Lily pressed her wand to the painting that contained the three old women and it vibrated. Soon the three women were screeching and holding their heads in pain. Lily lifted her wand off the painting and said,

"I'm only going to ask nicely one more time. What did George Lattimer do with Helga Hufflepuff's cup?"

The women were shocked but not more so than the head goldsmith who asked,

"Have you known all along young lady?"

"I suspected."

Lily turned back to the three women.

"Tell me."

"He hid it. From him."

"But where did he get it? Did Lattimer find his secret hiding spot?"

"Seems so. He came to the tower because he thought he might have hidden it here but I don't think he found it here, he was gone a few days when he came back with it."

Lily turned to the goldsmiths,

"And you verified that it was indeed the cup?"

"Yes, we helped Helga make the cup, we knew it was the real thing."

"So what did Lattimer need you three for?"

The women looked at each other again, reluctant to answer. Lily edged her wand towards the frame of the painting once more.

"Okay, okay. He changed it."

"Changed it?"

"The cup wasn't just a cup anymore."

Lily straightened up. She put her hand on her bag protectively then she turned to Snape.

"We got what we came here for let's go."

"Wait what about the password?"

Lily pulled out the piece of parchment with the runes on it. It was the reason they had come in the first place.

"Lattimer wouldn't have kept Helga Hufflupuff's cup just anywhere but the password was out in the open. That way whoever was looking for something hidden would find the place where the cup was but not the password for it and similarly whoever happened upon the password wouldn't know where to look for the cup."

"But wait, are we actually talking about a relic from one of the founders? I mean weren't they lost except for Gryffindor's sword?"

"They were until now. You heard the goldsmiths, it's the real deal."

"But where did Lattimer keep it? Do you think he found it and took it?"

"Let's hope not."

"Not really a big deal, what's he going to do with a cup? And what did that woman mean it wasn't just a cup anymore?"

Lily gave Snape a dark look.

"I'm not entirely certain."

Snape felt she knew more than she was letting on but decided to focus on the search. Both Snape and Lily had their wands out and were feeling their way across the room, trying to feel any traces of magic.

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"It's no use Lily, its nowhere in his office we felt out this place from ceiling to floor. If Lattimer did hide the cup, it wasn't in here."

Lily got up from her crouched position and stretched her legs. They had been at it for an hour and a half and they didn't have much time left if they were going to make it back before curfew.

"We can't just give up, not when we're so close."

"So close to what?"

"Figuring this out. If we can just find that damn cup I'm sure, I'll know."

"Damned? You think the cup is cursed?"

"Something like that."

Lily cracked her neck and back and stared at the room with her hands on her hips. She had a fierce and determined look on her face.

"Maybe the hiding place is somewhere else in the tower?"

"No I'm sure he would have wanted to keep it close."

"Why?"

"I… I can just feel it."

Snape sighed and joined Lily at the front of the room. He had his back to the doorway and he looked out into the room. It was a mess. It had been a mess even before random objects had burst into flame now it was nothing short of chaos. Snape closed his eyes to shut it all out. He took a deep breath. There it was. That feeling he had the first time they had come here. That prickly feeling on the back of his neck. Magic. Snape opened his eyes and opened the door. It had been out here, yes it was stronger out here.

"Lily, I think its outside. I think, I think it's the wall."

"Which wall?"

"The one right across from the door."

"You mean, like the entrance to Slytherin house?"

Lily and Snape looked at each other and knew, it all made sense now. Lily took out the piece of parchment and drew the runes on the wall with her wand. The wall slid downwards revealing a deep and narrow room. It looked like a cave, like it had been carved out of the same stone that made the wall. Lily stepped into the room and no sooner had both of them gone in then the wall reappeared behind them, trapping them. Lily stepped forward but as she did Snape heard something stirring from deeper in the room; something was moving in the dark. From the shadows came a hand protruding from a cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water. Then a clocked figure appeared, its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. A Dementor. Trapped in a room with a creature you could only repel but not kill, this was bad.

"Stay back Lily."

Snape held one hand out in front of Lily protectively; in the other was his wand ready to attack if the creature made any sudden movements. The Dementor lunged at the pair and Snape shouted,

"_Expecto Patronum!"_

Snape's patronus, a doe, sprung out from his wand and chased down the Dementor but it didn't seem effective.

"Hold on Severus, I don't really feel anything."

"What do you mean?"

Lily stepped out in front and raised her wand.

"_Riddikulus!"_

The Dementor's cloak caught onto a nail and it unraveled leaving only a skeleton which fell into a pile of bones on the floor. Lily produced a big wooden box and tossed it towards the pile of bones. The bones turned to smoke that almost looked like it leaped into the box. The lid slammed shut and Lily ran over to lock it. The box shook but didn't open.

"Damn boggarts."

Snape sighed with relief. Boggarts he could handle. With the boggart secured the pair walked deeper into the room towards a strange light. As they got closer their suspicions were confirmed. There it was, Helga Hufflepuff's cup. It stood on a round, waist-high stone pillar. It seemed to be illuminated from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Lily and Snape gathered around the golden cup and stared at it. The pillar was covered in moss and vines as though it had been there a long time. The top was dirty and covered in moss that was beginning to creep onto the cup itself. Lily looked up at Snape and then carefully reached out towards the side of the cup where the image of a badger was engraved. Lily touched it briefly then retracted her hand, as though she feared it would burn her. When nothing happened Lily repeated the motion holding her fingers on the cup for a second longer. Finally she grasped the cup,

"Be on guard Severus, we don't know what will happen when I move the cup."

Snape nodded and Lily pulled on the cup and… nothing happened. The cup wouldn't budge. Lily pulled again and again but it was as though the cup had been melted into the stone. It wasn't going to be so easy. Lily sighed in frustration and sat cross-legged on the floor next to the stone pillar. Snape rested his hands on the pillar and tried to shake the pillar, to see if it would move. No such luck. But when Snape removed his hands he saw that the moss had rubbed off onto his palms.

"Ew. Gross."

As Snape was trying to get rid of the moss he noticed something on the pillar, underneath where the moss was wiped away. It looked like something was engraved on the top of the pillar. He wiped away more of the moss and sure enough, on the outer rim of the pillar's face was a sentence, but Snape couldn't understand it.

"Lily take a look at this."

Lily got up and gasped. She bent down and walked around the pillar as she read the words.

"Audire me sanguinem… donec derivabatur."

"What does that mean?"

Lily looked up at Snape with a serious expression on her face.

"It's Latin. It means 'fill me with blood until I overflow'."

"W-what?"

Snape looked down at the cup, it wasn't a small cup, it looked like it could hold a good pint of liquid.

"Where are we going to get that much blood?"

Lily rolled up her sleeves.

"Lily you can't be serious? You'll faint if not worse. You can't just bleed yourself!"

"Don't worry I have some _blood-replenishing potion_ with me and there's two of us. Of course you don't have to if you don't want to but it'll be less of we each give some blood."

"Wait, Lily just hold on there has to be another way."

"Sure stolen blood from a blood bank or animal blood but I don't think we'll be able to pop out and grab any."

Snape walked over to the door and tried every way and spell he could think of including the runes password, backwards and forwards, nothing.

"Satisfied now Severus? Can we try it my way now or do you fancy dying in here?"

Snape reluctantly agreed. Between the two of them it wasn't that much blood and since she had enough _blood-replenishing potion_ for the two of them….

"Okay but let me go first, unless I faint I don't want you using your blood."

"Sev!"

"You're already ill. You need your strength. Besides its better if one person has the potion and dittany ready and the other gives the blood okay?"

It was Lily's turn to reluctantly agree. She took out the potions and a small dagger. Snape rolled up his sleeve and cut himself across his forearm. It stung but Snape was used to pain. It was strange feeling and watching his blood pour out of him, it was strangely comforting. As the blood hit the cup it hissed and boiled as though it was acid being spilled into it instead of blood. It seemed whenever the blood hit the metal it would hiss and smoke then stop. Lily held the vile of blood replenishing potion to Snape's lips and he took a few gulps whenever he felt himself go dizzy. When the cup was half full Snape's wound started to clot and the stream of blood began to taper. Lily applied some _Essence of Dittany_ and the wound closed. Snape went to cut himself again but Lily stopped him.

"Let me give some, take a break."

"It's alright Lily I can manage."

"I insist, just a bit okay?"

Snape was too dizzy to argue. He sat down and handed Lily the dagger.

"Be careful, not too much."

"Got it Sev."

The room was losing some focus, all he could hear was the rattling of the wooden box containing the boggart. Snape tried to take a few breaths. Then he heard Lily wince as she cut her arm. Snape slowly got back to his feet and held the potion vile for Lily to drink. The cup was nearly full when her wound clotted and closed. They were out of blood replenishing potion.

"We're almost there. Do you think you can manage Severus?"

Snape nodded, a small nod so as not to betray how much difficulty he was having standing up. Although the blood replenishing potion was doing its work, it wasn't as instant as Snape would have liked. He cut his forearm again and slowly the cup filled and began to overflow, blood spilled onto the pillar forming a ring of blood at the base of the cup. When the blood filled the circle engraved into the stone Lily closed Snape's wound and carefully grabbed the cup. It lifted, easily, except for being heavy and filled with blood. Lily smiled slightly.

"How about we get out of here huh?"

Snape nodded in agreement, another small nod of course. When they got to the door nothing happened. They tapped the wall and even tried the runes but nothing. Snape was tired, dizzy and he was ready to get out of there, the boggart's rattling was starting to piss him off. Lily raised the cup towards the wall and spilled some of the blood on the wall. The wall seemed to absorb the blood. Lily the pulled out her wand and said,

"I think I have an idea."

Lily dipped her wand in the blood and wrote the runes out, re-dipped her wand into the cup when the blood ran out. The blood was absorbed but again nothing happened. Snape's eager hope was dashed and Lily looked confused.

"I was so sure… ah wait!"

Lily sprung up with a sudden idea and spilled some blood in the process. Lily began writing the runes in blood again but mirrored, so that they appeared the way they would if they had been written on the other side of the wall. That seemed to do the trick and the wall slide downwards again. Lily and Snape walked out and took a deep breath. It was downright stuffy in that cave-like room.

"Uhh… should I empty the cup?"

No sooner had the words left Lily's mouth than the blood sizzled once again and was evaporated.

"Okay… I guess that solves that."

Lily and Snape looked at their watches, both had stopped running. They went outside and looked up at the clock tower, 1 hour before curfew, but it had been an hour before curfew when they went into the room. Assuming it was their mistake or some trick of the room, Lily and Snape were nonetheless glad. Lily put the cup safely into her bag and they two ran to the location of the portkey that would take them back to Hogwarts. If they were late, McGongall was going to kill them.

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Lily was rushing toward the Fat Lady. She and Snape had made it back in the nick of time. After escaping from McGongall's lecture on punctuality the two of them ran up to the 7th floor and instead of asking for their usual room they paced up and down the hallway asking for a place to hide the cup. The Room of Requirement answered with a great cavernous room, like a large cathedral whose large windows were sending shafts of light down of what looked like a city with towering walls. It was packed with piles of everything you could think of, a hodgepodge of things from present and past Hogwarts students. Lily and Snape left the cup in a compartment of a large cupboard that looked like it had acid thrown on its blistered surface. It seemed appropriate since their blood seemed to sizzle like acid when it hit the cup. To distinguish it Snape had put the chipped bust of an old warlock on the cupboard and then topped the bust with a dusty old wig and a tarnished tiara. Then they left and split up towards their respective common rooms so as not to give McGongall an excuse.

As Lily breathlessly stepped over the threshold into the Gryffindor common room she saw the room was only lightly populated. When they saw her walk in almost everyone instantly split for their rooms, everyone but James Potter who was sitting on a couch. Lily rolled her eyes and started towards her room.

"Alright Lily?"

Lily was tired and not in the mood for another of Potter's speeches.

"What? What is it Potter?"

"Did you have fun today?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you go down to Hogsmeade today? With Snivellus?"

"DON'T call him that! And what if I did?"

James got up from the couch and walked right up to Lily.

"Last time I checked Hogsmeade wasn't in London."

Lily opened her mouth in shock.

"How did you…?"

"I have my ways."

Lily laughed.

"What? You mean stalking me?"

James ignored this.

"Did you enjoy your little date? Sight-seeing in London? Or was Snivellus just too poor to take you on a real date?"

"I enjoyed it very much but I enjoyed the hotel room more."

"What?"

"You mean you didn't manage to follow us the whole day?"

"Well… I… I mean. Did you really go to a hotel? I…I thought you were just friends."

"What Severus and I do is none of your business Potter when will you understand that?"

"When will you realise who he really is? He's evil Lily, him and all his friends. You're just going to get hurt."

"Maybe I like a little pain."

James grabbed Lily by the shoulders and pressed her up against a wall.

"Like this? Is this what you like?"

Potter's cheeks were flush and he pressed his body up against Lily who smiled slightly, her red lipstick glistening on her lips.

"Yeah, I really, really like it."

Lily said in a husky voice. Potter took this as an invitation and leaned his head towards Lily's. She took the initiative and pressed her lips roughly against Potter's. James responded with just as much pressure for a few seconds then his body went slack and he fell, slumped against Lily. Lily pushed him off of her and he fell to the floor. She pressed her lips together. Then she took the cup and dagger out of her bag and rolled up Potter's sleeve. No point in wasting a perfectly good opportunity.

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	27. May Be Saved

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Chapter 27: May Be Saved

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **marauderhater**: Stay with me it'll all make sense eventually. Thank you everyone for the reviews, especially ** imaginexthat**! *ihadalittlespazzandgigglemom entwhenireadit*

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You don't realize how tired you are until you try to get going again. With two hard hitting subjects on Monday, both Snape and Lily found themselves grasping to keep up. They spoke little to each other except when studying or discussing why the cup was so important that it warranted such heavy protection, this subject of course was kept to hushed voices outside the Room of Requirement.

After his exams on Tuesday, Snape spotted Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore speaking with their heads close together. Lily's name was carried to Snape from the conversation and Severus decided to listen in.

"She seems concerned, but there haven't been any messages."

"Well, certainly something is happening but it would be unwise to jump to such a serious conclusion. Perhaps during the Christmas Holiday we can insist all the students go home or remain elsewhere and we can search the castle."

"I think that would be a good idea Albus."

So the two of them were worried, they weren't as aloof as they seemed. Snape made his way to the Room of Requirement, Lily was already there waiting for him. She was making a chart of poisons and their antidotes as a study guide for their written potions exam tomorrow. She wasn't even looking at the textbook for reference.

"Seems like you don't need a study guide Lily."

"It's for you."

"Ah, worried I might fail the exam?"

"Not really."

Lily handed Snape the chart, which contained a list of mostly rare poisons, and walked into the adjoining bedroom, where Severus sometimes slept. Snape didn't know if it was the exam stress, that he himself was feeling, or the withdrawal or the petrifactions that was getting to Lily. In fact, there were so many things that could be contributing to her sullen mood that Snape didn't even bother to ask. He just kept telling himself that once they got to Paris, everything would be okay.

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Wednesday morning came much too soon for Snape who had to be up bright and early to meet with Professor Vector to help grade the 3rd and 4th years' exams. The work was simple but took a long time and although he was frustrated by their poor results and tired by the end he saw that Professor Vector was having just as hard a time; there were three large piles of papers stacked to the ceiling still waiting to be corrected. An hour before lunch Snape excused himself and looked over Lily's notes before heading down to lunch. Snape shook his head; Lily obviously had mistaken their mid-year exams for the NEWTS as half the potions and poison outlined were 7th year level or above.

When Snape walked into the Great hall he noticed Lily wasn't there. In fact with Mary petrified and Alice also absent, there was a big gap at the Gryffindor table. Snape sat down to eat somewhat uneasily and continuously glanced over to the Gryffindor table. About 15 minutes before lunch was over, Lily trotted in red in the face and out of breath. She grabbed a sandwich off the table and drowned some pumpkin juice. She had hardly finished chewing when the students were chased out of the Great Hall so that it could be turned into an exam room. Snape and Lily waited by the doors with everyone else who would be taking their written potions exam that day.

"Where were you? You nearly missed lunch."

"Oh, just preparing. You studied all those notes I gave you right?"

"Yes, although really Lily I think you're over preparing."

"There is no such thing."

Lily said with a determined look on her face. Just then the doors were opened by Professor Slughorn and everyone filed inside. Snape sat behind Lily who was glancing around her. Potter waved and she turned away pretending not to see him. The exam began and Snape saw Lily scrawling away quickly. He looked down at his own paper and saw that indeed Lily had over prepared: 'Explain Golpalott's Third Law citing an example.'

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Snape stretched before getting up from the desk. The written potions exam was over and with only the practical Defense Against the Dark Arts exam tomorrow Snape felt like exam were practically over, he could ace the DADA practical with his eyes closed after the Halloween Hunt. As he walked out he saw a small group of students had gathered around a nervous looking Frank Longbottom.

"She wouldn't have missed the exam, it doesn't make any sense."

"I saw her with Lily this morning."

As the group noticed Snape walking by they began speaking in hushed voices, except for Frank who walked right up to Snape.

"Oi, Snape where's Lily I need to talk to her."

Snape turned around, he was certain Lily had been right behind him.

"Uh, she was just here."

"She was at the exam, are you sure?"

"Yes, I was sitting behind her. Why?"

"Alice is missing. She wasn't in the exam room and I can't find her anywhere. Some of the other Gryffindor girls say they saw her with Lily in the morn… Ah!."

Longbottom looked past Severus and walked away without finishing his sentence. Snape turned to see what had caught his attention and saw Lily walking across the Entrance Hall. Snape moved to catch up with Longbottom and the group of students who were gathered around him.

"Lily, have you seen Alice?"

"No, must have missed her just now."

"But she wasn't in the exam room."

"She wasn't? Why would she miss the exam?"

"I don't know but some of the girls said you were with her this morning."

"Well yeah, we were studying but that was hours ago."

Frank sighed and ran his hands through his hair, pushing up his bangs.

Just as Frank turned to leave Professor McGonagall came up through the group and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come with me Mr. Longbottom."

"Have you found Alice Professor?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Un…unfortunately?"

Frank's face went slightly pale as he followed Professor McGonagall and Snape heard a rush of whispers bubbling from the crowd. Lily stared at Frank as he walked away and turned to Snape asking,

"What do you think that was all about?"

"Not sure Lily but it doesn't sound good."

"I'll say."

Snape and Lily turned towards the sound of this third voice that had joined their conversation.

"What exactly are you going on about Wormtail?"

"Just saying' if she turned out anything like your other friends, they're in a world of trouble."

"What? What do you mean 'turned out'?"

"Well, you and Mary fight and she gets petrified. Fateen gets petrified and you were first on the scene and now you were last seen with Alice and word is she is petrified too. Found in a hallway carrying a mirror."

"Alice's been petrified?"

Snape was hoping she had just slept in.

"Oh come off it Snape, I bet you did it."

The conversation had turned into another spat between Severus and James who had joined the conversation.

"I was with Professor Vector correcting 3rd and 4th years' papers until just before lunch."

Pettigrew walked over to Lily and asked,

"And where were you?"

"I slept in and then got up to study."

"Study where?"

"An empty classroom."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"How convenient."

"We don't even know when all this happened so it's a bit much to accuse me. Besides how in the world would it benefit me to petrify any of my friends? And how exactly am I doing it that not even Professor Dumbledore can figure it out? Not to mention I'd have destroyed all the mandrakes if that was my plot; I'm helping care for them and they are growing exceptionally quickly. So Wormtail how about you spend more time acquiring basic logic and less time coming up with asinine plots that sound like they came out of some bad dinner theater show hmm?"

Lily turned and rushed off leaving behind a small trail of giggles and a Wormtail whose face was contorted with anger. Dinner theater, that bit even made Snape smile a little. Snape followed Lily into an empty classroom; she was sitting at a desk with her head in her hands. When she heard Snape come in she ran over to him and buried her head into his shoulder. She instantly began crying. Through her tears she asking in a shaky voice,

"Sev, why is all this happening?"

Snape wrapped his arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth, hushing her and repeating over and over,

"I don't know but it's all going to be okay, it's all going to be okay."

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Snape and Lily practiced their spells for hours on Wednesday; Snape hoped it would keep Lily's mind off what happened to Alice and away from all the talk Pettigrew's confrontation had incontrovertibly started. Lily poured herself into practice, so much so that she was producing spells Snape could hardly identify. She had mastered non-verbal spells and sent jets of light across the classroom and Snape could only tell by the effects what they might be. He became so curious he finally asked and Lily had taught him a few including _Caecus Doua_ which filled the room with a flash of light and in return he had taught her a few of his spells including _Levicorpus_.

Snape went into the DADA practical with a lackadaisical attitude. He had not seen Lily since she was called for her turn and Snape assumed everyone was in a waiting room until the exam was over. This meant she and Potter would be stuck in the same room without him for several minutes; this displeased Severus. The bumbling Defense teacher walked behind Snape down a long dungeon corridor where different obstacles, spells and creatures would jump out at him and he had to react appropriately. Snape could have simply disabled the magic in the entire corridor but that would have defeated the purpose of the exam and kept everyone still in line all that much longer. So he played along but for good measure cast _Caecus Doua, _temporarily blinding the Professor.

When he walked into the waiting room he saw his classmates there, including Lily who was hitting Potter with one of her books.

"Don't they teach wizards that no means no?!"

"Alright Lily?"

"No worries Severus I can handle a pervert."

"Aw come on Lily I was only playing."

"Pfft, yeah right!"

Lily smacked Potter one more time before putting her hands on her hips and blowing her hair off her face.

"So what was that light at the end Sev?"

Just then a loud bang was heard from the corridor.

"The Professor might be a tad disoriented."

"Hum, I wonder why that could be?"

Lily smiled and Snape returned the smile forgetting how very much in public they were. He was reminded when Potter strutted off pouting and mocking Snape under his breath. Snape's smile was sopped up by a scrawl and would not be seen for many, many hours.

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_"Sev, have you ever wondered what would have happened if we hadn't met?"_

Snape heard these words faintly whispered into his ear and he turned his weary head towards Lily. He stretched his arms out towards her small hand and their fingertips touched. Not even the coming darkness could steal that little bit of warmth between the two.

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Again there was a sizeable gap at the Gryffindor table during dinner, Lily was once again absent and Snape felt a familiar cold and heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach. The last time he had seen her she was heading towards her room to change out of her clothes before dinner; the DADA exam had left them all a bit sweaty and out of breath, for the most part. It was strange for Snape to be anxious over something so mundane but he couldn't shake off the feeling that Lily wasn't simply absent. Dinner came and went and afterwards Lily did not appear either in the Library or the Room of Requirement. Snape paced up and down in the ROR peeking at the clock every few seconds until it was nearly curfew and he could no longer stand it. Snape checked a few classrooms and even asked a group of 4th year Gryffindor girls if they had seen her but no one had and she was nowhere to be found.

Snape was desperately conducting a last minute search before curfew when he stumbled upon something that made him lose his breath. Drag marks, in blood. They originated in a small pool of blood in the corridor and led into a girls' bathroom. Snape rushed into the bathroom and saw that the drag marks led to a central pillar with sinks on all sides. The bathroom was empty and unkempt, he knew where he was.

"Myrtle?"

"This is a ladies room, YOU can't be in here."

"I only came in because I saw the blood and thought someone might be injured."

"Blood? Oh well, I haven't seen any other ghosts so I guess whoever got blood everywhere isn't dead."

Moaning Myrtle responded unhappily.

"Did you see anyone in here who might have been injured?"

"That bossy redhead was in here, but she seemed fine."

"Did she leave? When was this?"

"Oh I don't know. I was in my U-bend, thinking about how I died."

"How did you die?"

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died ."

"How?" asked Snape.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away..." She looked dreamily at Severus. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Snape.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet. Snape walked over and considered what Myrtle said. Big, great yellow eyes and someone speaking a funny language… Snape had heard plenty about the Chamber of Secrets from his housemates, but a basilisk? Was it possible? _Was a parseltongue responsible for Myrtle's death_ and, Snape looked at the bloody drag marks that seemed to disappear into the pillar on which the sink Myrtle mentioned was attached, _did a Basilisk take someone into the Chamber_? It was all rather insane but Snape's mind was working at an incredible speed. The petrifications made sense, had any roosters died lately? He didn't know, he hadn't taken Care of Magical Creatures in years and wasn't exactly friendly with Hagrid, the groundskeeper. How was Lily involved? Snape did not want to allow his mind to consider that this blood belonged to her, no there was no reason to think that yet. Either way Lily might had come across the blood and gone in to help. Did Lily know any parseltongue? Snape had learned a little, some words here and there and decided to try a few out. He hissed at the sink and as soon as he did the pillar shook and opened up leaving a big hole in the bathroom, a hole big enough for a basilisk.

Snape saw the sticky red lines continue into the hole. He lit is wand but he saw no bottom. He lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. He could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as the one he was in, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

And then, just as he had begun to worry about what would happen when he hit the ground, the pipe leveled out, and he shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in.

The tunnel was so dark that he could only see a little distance ahead. His shadow on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight. Snape saw the tracks of blood continue but they were broken and thin as though the bleeding had stopped. He followed the blood, keeping his head down and his ears open should the basilisk still be close by, the blood path was quickly disappearing as there were only drops here and there.

He walked on until he came to a room with a statue high as the Chamber itself, standing against the back wall. Severus had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Lily!" Snape yelled, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. "Lily - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He flung his wand aside, grabbed Lily's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't petrified. But then she must be...

"Lily, please wake up," Snape muttered desperately, shaking her. Lily's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Snape jumped and spun around on his knees.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Snape were looking at him through a misted window.

"Who are you and what do you mean, she won't wake?" Snape asked suspiciously.

"She's still alive," said the boy. "But only just."

Snape asked,

"Are you a ghost?"

"A memory, preserved in a diary for thirty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary he had found, the diary had belonged to Lily, she had written in it, in lemon juice.

"We've got to get out of here. I think there's a basilisk... I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment..."

The boy didn't move. Snape bent to pick up his wand to levitate Lily but his wand had gone.

"Did you see -?"

He looked up. The boy was still watching him - twirling Snape's wand between his long fingers. Snape did not like this; in a moment of panic he had broken the first rule of self defense: never let go of your wand. A smile curled the corners of the boy's mouth. He continued to stare at Snape, twirling the wand idly.

"The basilisk won't come until it is called."

"Who are you and what have you done to Lily?"

"My name is Tom Riddle and I haven't done anything to Lily, this she did to herself. Remarkably clever girl, after my own heart. You could not believe my surprise when, for the first time in many years, someone writes in my diary but not in ink but lemon juice and also not in English or any other known language but a code, whose legend was stored elsewhere. I was helpless, even though I tried to write back, she could not see anything, the lemon juice would simply dry invisible. It took all my power to get her roommate to steal the diary and write in ink so that I could write back. Then you found the book and heated the pages and some of Lily's and my messages were finally revealed. You could imagine her surprised when she found the book again, to see writing, not her own but in lemon juice. At first it seemed she, like everyone else, was falling into my charm but she is much too good a judge of character and she began… mocking me. She would write insults, taunts and she wrote about you. Severus Snape. A family name I had never heard. What wizarding family are you from Mr. Snape?"

"I'm a half-blood, my father is a muggle."

"Pity. That explains it though. She wrote most highly of you. Once I figured out her code I could read all her thoughts, most of them about you, always about you. She attempted to destroy the book when she discovered that I knew her code and her secrets but it was too late. I had already launched my plan and the Chamber was opened by the foolish girl Mary. I was to take her and use her as my portal back into the real world but the day before, she was petrified by my own pet. The same would happen with Fateen and Alice. As soon as I targeted one of her pureblood friends she would have them petrified by the basilisk, depriving me of my means of returning to life."

"I'm sure Lily saw right through you, no pun intended."

Tom Riddle tilted his head and smirked. A large bang was heard behind them.

"Ah, my pet is restless."

"Only the true heir of Slytherin can command the Basilisk and open the chamber."

"That is who I am."

"That's strange, there's another man who claims to be the true heir of Slytherin, perhaps you've heard of Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named?"

Tom Riddle laughed, it was a high, shrill laugh that made Snape's hair stand on end. He lifted Snape's wand and wrote in the air three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"That's right. I am he. It was a name I was already using while at Hogwarts. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? You too, I am sure, have wanted to shed that disgusting name. No, I fashioned myself a new name, just as you did _Half-Blood Prince_, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

"So you wouldn't use a muggle-born like Lily to bring yourself into life. But why? You, at least Lord Voldemort, is alive and well."

"Ah, but he has no power here at Hogwarts. That old fool Dumbledore has kept my future self out but I will be able to come back into life and do away with the filth that have invaded this holy place. Yes, the way my ancestor would have wanted."

"You said Lily did this to herself."

"And she did. She poisoned herself, so that I wouldn't be able to use her to enter the realm of the real."

"But you wouldn't use a muggle-born anyways right?"

"Oh I'm no longer so picky. I would never have used Lily anyways, no I want her by my side. And you Severus, you are not afraid, have I, my future self recruited you as so many of your peers seem to think?"

Snape remained silent.

"No matter, I was going to kill you anyways. I couldn't have you interfering with Lily and I."

Tom looked down at Lily's white face with a strange look in his eyes. It made Snape uncomfortable.

"Yes, you would be blamed for all the petrifications, no one would be surprised. Lily's memory will be altered by me and she will hold you responsible for everything including the death of her housemate."

"Housemate?"

"Come out Mr. Potter!"

Snape heard a gasp and then James Potter came out from behind a pillar.

"What are you doing here?"

"I saw the blood and you going into the bathroom so I followed you. I knew it, you've been working with him all along!"

James had his wand out and he was pointing it at Snape's heart.

"You idiot!"

Tom Riddle laughed and spoke in parseltongue.

Snape wheeled around to look up at the statue, Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Snape saw the mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.

Snape backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut his eyes tight he felt Potter next to him. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Severus felt it shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice again.

He knew he couldn't make it out alive if he couldn't see, he had to find a way to make it safe to open his eyes. He had to close the basilisk's eyes, but how? Then Severus remembered.

"Potter I need your wand!"

"What are you insane?"

"Do you want to die in here? Give me your wand and cover your eyes!"

"Like hell!"

Snape turned towards the pillar and opened his eyes and saw James with his eyes closed. He punched James in the face knocking him out. It felt good to finally do that but Snape couldn't enjoy it, he had to deal with the basilisk. He grabbed Potter's wand and cast _Caecus Doua. _A bright light filled the chamber and he heard the snake hiss angrily. It would only be temporary so he would have to keep his eyes averted and repeat the spell every minute but it was better than nothing. In the moment of calm as the snake adjusted to the light and was turned away from him, Snape was able to gather his bearings. He considered running but then he saw it; next to James was the Sorting Hat and something glittering was sticking out of it, James was holding something.

Snape was distracted by the basilisk's renewed advance and he cast _Caecus Doua _again, this time twice for good measure. Snape grabbed the object out of Potter's hand and saw it was a large gleaming, silver sword. He wondered if Potter brought this for defense or to kill him, either way perhaps he could wound the snake enough so that he could levitate Lily and Potter of out harm's way.

The snake was regaining its sight again so Snape repeated the spell but the snake was getting smart, it was smelling Snape out but it seemed distracted by the blood. As Lily did not look injured Snape assumed Lily left it on purpose, a trail of breadcrumbs. He couldn't help but be proud of her at that moment.

Snape ran to the other side of the Chamber. The basilisk lunged blindly. Snape dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged again, and its forked tongue lashed Snape's side. He raised the sword in both his hands and swung. The sword caught one of the fangs and cut it right off. It seemed this sword was no ordinary piece of sharpened metal. The basilisk angrily lunged again, and this time its aim was true, Snape threw his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth.

Blood spilled onto Snape's arms and he let go of the sword as the basilisk crashed limp onto the stone floor. Snape picked up Potter's wand and turned to Riddle who had walked over. He looked into Snape's face before glancing at the basilisk.

"It makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Severus Snape... you and me..."

He raised the wand but Snape was quicker.

"_Accio_ diary!"

For a split second, both Snape and Riddle, wands still raised, stared at it. Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Snape dropped Potter's wand and seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.

There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Snape's hands, on top of the basilisk blood and flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then… He had gone. Snape's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was silence. Silence except for the steady drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Potter was still slumped against the pillar, unconscious and Lily was still lying on the floor, motionless. Snape walked over to her. What had Riddle said? She had poisoned herself so that she couldn't be used. It must have been hard for Lily to fight his power when Riddle so easily manipulated Mary. On top of that she was dealing with her father's death and her addiction. She had prepared for the worst, even collecting blood to use as a… then it hit him, she was "prepared". Snape remembered what she said before the potions exams, that you could never over-prepare. Snape's mind tried to remember the list of poisons Lily had listed, it all seemed so obvious now, Lily knew they didn't need to know them, not for the exam anyways. Snape looked her over for symptoms. If she was going to kill herself she would have done it right away so it was a poison that weakens you and saps your strength for a long time but doesn't kill you. He could almost see Lily's review chart with her gently slanted cursive writing. Salva. A poison used for hundreds of years as an anesthetic. The cure was a simple elixir but it couldn't simply be drunk by the patient. It had to be drunk by someone else and then that person's blood had to be drunk by the patient. Snape opened Lily's pouch that was now her everyday companion and found it there, the elixir. On the bottle, in her gently slanted cursive writing was a note.

_I'm sorry, Sev_.

Snape stared at the note for several moments before he tore the cap off the bottle and downed the elixir. He then rolled up his blood-drenched sleeve as he had a few days ago and cut open his arm and held it over Lily's mouth. Drops of blood began to spatter into Lily's mouth and the colour started to return to her cheeks. Snape on the other hand was losing his vision; the stress of the week, the attack and the loss of blood was overwhelming him. His body slid onto the cold, stone floor next to Lily.

Snape heard something faintly whispered into his ear and he turned his weary head towards Lily. He stretched his arms out towards her small hand and their fingertips touched. Not even the coming darkness could steal that little bit of warmth between the two.

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End of Chapter

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I hope you liked the chapter! This chapter brings me to over 100,000 words and my next review will be number 100! Thank you to everyone who is reading the story. I hope you will continue to read and every now and then review! Thank you!


	28. One Way Ticket

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Chapter 28: One Way Ticket

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: to anonymous "**a**"

1. Normally Snape wouldn't have flung his wand away, the purpose of this was to show his panic and there was a reason I added the line about him forgetting the first rule of defense. He himself realized how stupid he had been. Remember this is 16 year old Snape not 30 year old Snape who is much more composed.

2. Snape panicked when he saw Lily, fearing she was already dead and never got the chance to use any spell because his wand was taken and he knew from examining her after the battle (that is why I had him do that), that no simple spell was going to revive her.

3. He did see Riddle as a threat, he saw him as suspicious and was on edge but at first thought Riddle to be a ghost and therefore only as harmful as Peeves. After that, without a wand he had to play it smart to make sure he didn't endanger Lily further, he repeatedly asked Riddle if he was planning on using her because he was concerned first and foremost about her. Also Snape wouldn't have the same fear of Voldemort as Harry as he now knows several of his friends work with/for him so it was a very different dynamic.

4. Snape was smarter which is why he knew what to do, along with his background he was able to figure out what was happening very quickly and managed to keep Riddle talking while he figured out a plan of escape.

5. You misunderstood, please re-read the chapter. Lily was not under Riddle or the diary's control because she did not pour herself into it the way Ginny did (remember Riddle said she did not fall for his charms). The diary certainly had an effect on her but that is not the reason she did not tell Snape about it, she also chose not to (I think this next chapter will explain a lot for you, but not everything :P).

6. James entered at this point "A large bang was heard behind them" so all he heard of the conversation was Riddle claiming to be Voldemort and expressing how similar he and Snape were and how he wanted to rid the school of filth. That was enough to convince him as James already thought Snape was evil. James did serve a purpose, as you will see.

Thank you **duj **for pointing that out, I fixed it. Thank you to everyone else who reviewed! : ) I apologize that this chapter is so late but school and my birthday have kept me busy this past month. I'll be more diligent about updating from now on! Although I am going on a lengthy vacation after my exams so I'm not sure how that will work but I am really am trying my best!

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The thin layer of frost that covered the train car's windows and the clouded sky beyond prematurely darkened the morning. The train car was filled with shadows that seemed to emanate from the pair sitting in opposite corners of the car. They avoided each other's eyes, hiding their faces in the plentiful shadows and wrapping their cloaks tightly around their bodies to ward away the chill. Anyone looking into the room and at the pale faces of the two students would have thought all the colour had been seeped from the world, leaving only greys to fill the void.

Neither had said a word since their interrogation in Professor Dumbledore's office, no doubt partially due to the extensive nature of the interview. James, Lily and Severus were all individually and then collectively questioned. James lost his anger several times at the answers the other two gave and Snape almost had as well but, one look at Lily's stern face drained all his emotion.

Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Slughorn stood as a panel of judges with the portraits of past headmasters chiming in every now and then. It seemed Dumbledore knew exactly what Lily had planned; that she had taken the poison knowing she couldn't escape Riddle's power if she was conscious, that she had lured Potter with a trail of his own blood to rescue her, that she had left a backup plan with Snape and so forth. What he wanted to know was how she got the diary in the first place. All she said was that Mary had given it to her the previous year; Dumbledore said that he would follow up with Mary. Whatever was discussed with Mary, Snape heard nothing about it. Potter maintained the entire time that Snape was working with Riddle and had kidnapped Lily personally as an offering to him but the Sorting Hat maintained Snape's version of the events, Potter called it a traitor and was reminded by Dumbledore that the Sorting Hat had no allegiances, that was its purpose.

Snape wasn't sure what Lily had told the Headmaster during her individual interview but it seemed Dumbledore wasn't too concerned about her version of events by the time the joint interrogation took place. Snape, too, had many questions for Lily but he didn't know where to begin. He watched her during the interview and as they were waiting outside while Potter was alone with the professors. Lily did not once look at him nor say a single word. Ever since Snape woke in the hospital wing Lily had treated him like a ghost, like less than a ghost.

As he sat in the train across from Lily, Snape ran through several questions in his mind. Truthfully he knew the answers to many of them, others he had an idea about but wasn't certain. That diary, was not simply a diary, that he knew. When Dumbledore asked him why he had destroyed it he found it to be a strange question, of course he destroyed it but, when he thought about it there was no certain reason why, he just knew he had to. Riddle had come out of the diary, Riddle was going to harm or kill either him or Lily, and so it just made sense that Snape should destroy the diary. Snape tried to explain it clearly, that he felt something, something he had felt before. But he couldn't tell Dumbledore about that feeling he got, that feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end in the clock tower, not without exposing what he and Lily had been up to.

Lily did not seem the least bit shaken by any of the Headmaster's questions. She neither played the victim nor did she challenge the Headmaster. She just sat there and answered with as few words as possible, not a trace of emotion on her face or in her voice. Snape looked at Lily in the train car, her expression made it seem like her face would shatter into a million pieces if she tried to smile. She just stared blankly out the window, or rather at the window, as the frost had made it almost completely opaque.

When the diary was presented to them, Snape saw Lily flinch and her face wrinkled slightly as though there was a bad smell in the air. Almost simultaneously Professor McGonagall sighed with relief. They were waiting and hoping for this reaction from Lily. Snape wondered if Lily had faked it for their and her benefit. After nearly an entire day of questions they were freed with Lily and Snape told to pack for their trip to Paris, they would leave the next morning. And so Snape went to his room and packed silently, ignoring his roommates and the dozens of false starts towards a conversation that emitted from them.

And yet he preferred even that to the painful silence that rang between he and Lily. Snape found himself looking for the right word to start with, the right way to ask, the right way to put it. Two hours into the ride he found a suitable phrase only to look up and find Lily asleep. It was a little frightening. In sleep all the pretense washed away and Lily's face was frozen in pain. Her breathing was quick and sharp and her hands were clasped tightly. Each time Lily's teeth would briefly clench, it was though a small string attached to the bottom of Snape's heart was being pulled. He could only brush the hair out of her face and watch her as she began to break into a cold sweat.

Lily was not okay. She wasn't ready to go on any trip, she should still be in the hospital wing, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Snape hoped it was just the poison not yet out of her system; that was easy, that he could fix. But whatever nightmares were plaguing Lily's now fragile mind, Snape did not know what to do about. The more Snape watched, the more strongly he too felt waves of pain wash over him as though they echoed off of Lily, like they were connected. Despite the pain, Snape liked that idea, that they were connected somehow. And, like Lily, Snape too soon fell into an uneasy sleep.

_It's warm. A light rain shower is falling; a hot wind blowing through the damp leaves. In front of him a small butterfly is hanging helplessly onto a thin branch. Its fragile wings flutter and shake against the wind, and it seems as though at any moment the butterfly will be blown off. The little creature bends its wings inwards as though to wrap its body in protection from the wind and rain. As its wings swirl around its body, they turn brown and form a cocoon. The little cocoon also shakes in the wind but remains stuck to the branch, ferociously clinging to life._

Snape woke slowly. Through his blurred vision, he saw Lily's face turned towards him for the first time in days. When he sat up she promptly turned away again but Snape knew; she had been watching him sleep just as he had watched her.

"Lily, why was Potter really there?"

Lily would never consent to being rescued by James, she had to have had an ulterior motive. Lily sighed and stretched herself out on the seat, staring at the ceiling.

"Two birds, one stone?"

Not the answer Snape had been expecting.

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious isn't it? I was hoping they'd kill each other, rid me of two problems at once."

"You didn't really want James to be killed."

Lily jumped off the seat and stood in front of Snape looking straight at him.

"What if I did? Haven't you ever felt the world would be a better place without him?"

"Lily..."

She turned and stood by the window, looking out beyond it, or at it, once again.

"You can't keep pretending things aren't changing Severus. Things are changing. And I, I have this terrible feeling that if I don't do Potter in first, one day, perhaps soon, he'll be the death of me... of us both."

Snape rose and stood close behind Lily by the window. He whispered into her ear,

"Lily. You want to kill Potter?"

Lily sighed and turned towards Snape, their faces inches from each other.

"I'm not going to kill him, but I'm not going to cry when he's gone. Does that sound horrible of me? Don't you appreciate at all how many times we've almost died; don't you remember what happened with Lupin? James is dangerous because he's stupid and I can't risk losing anything else on someone else's account."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You don't know, it's so easy to assume from the dungeons but Gryffindor House isn't some paradise. People's lives are being torn apart up there in that little tower and I've watched on the sidelines for too long. It's not as innocent as it seems and I haven't been innocent for a long time now."

That screechy voice ripped through Snape's mind like a sudden spell,

_Don't you want to hear more Mr. Snape?_

Snape held his head in pain for a brief moment. Lily stared at him unfazed and seemingly unaware of his strange behavior.

"You're not innocent either Severus."

Lily sat back down in her spot and turned away from Snape, apparently determined to go back into the silence that had enveloped them during the first half of the trip, but Snape wasn't having it.

"Why didn't you tell me about Riddle, about the diary?"

Lily glanced sideways at Snape and gave him a dark look.

"Like I could trust you."

Snape walked over to Lily and grabbed her shoulders in anger.

"Oh come off it Lily, if you can't trust me, who can you trust?"

"No one apparently! Is your mind safe Snape?"

"What?"

"If I were to whisper all my secrets into your ear, could you be certain they'd stay there, locked away and protected? Could you be sure he or one you're your housemates wouldn't get in? He was in my mind, but a drop of ink and he had access unlike anyone else. Don't worry, he doesn't know about us investigating Lattimer, he never got that far. His questions, he was too suspicious, actually I thought it might be Dumbledore, then again those two aren't so different."

"Lily, have you decided to spend this train ride confusing me?"

"Forget it."

Lily slouched into her seat and closed her eyes.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk, then don't, but listen to me. I want you to decide once and for all whether you trust me or not because I can't keep at this otherwise. I decided Lily, I trust you with my life. I want to understand you and what's happening beyond what I see with you and that lot, but you can't expect me to understand if you don't let me in. What are you so afraid of Lily? When have I ever let you down?"

Lily turned and glared at him when he said this then gave a small chuckle. Snape suddenly remembered that he had let her down, at least once. He mentally kicked himself for the millionth time. Snape took a deep breath and took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing,

"I've been in a constant state of panic for the last half a year thanks to you. I know it isn't your fault that all these things are happening, but pushing me away only makes me more anxious. When you said you forgave me, I thought you'd let me back in. Maybe it was foolish of me to expect everything to go back to the way it was before but I didn't think it would be this bad either. It's like you're keeping me close enough to see you struggle but not close enough to help and it hurts, it hurts me so much to watch you, I've never felt more helpless Lily."

Lily's brought her thumb to her mouth and began instinctively biting on her nail. She teared up and turned away from Snape, as though she was trying to physically distance her ears from his words.

"Perhaps there's some part of you that still believes I'm going to betray you, that I'm going to join Mulciber on a crash and slash and no matter how small a whisper that voice is it, it kills me Lily. You're right, I'm neither perfect nor innocent but things aren't so black and white in our world. Just because I'm not innocent doesn't make me automatically guilty. There are many shades of grey out there."

Snape looked out the window to the dark grey clouds beyond and Lily's gaze followed his. As she was staring out at the sky, Snape turned his gaze back onto her face.

"I hope you'll soon realize that, you and I, we're the same shade of grey."

Lily blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. Then she closed her eyes and didn't open them for the rest of the train ride.

Snape also closed his eyes, unable to stand the sight of Lily swallowing her emotions. She was so easy to read, he knew her too well. She was holding in so much, for his sake. He shouldn't have said anything. At least until that point Lily had been comfortable enough to let her feelings out around him. Now she would close up even further and be resolved to crying in private, just so he didn't have to feel hurt but he wanted to feel her pain. It was a small but precious connection to Severus. He sat leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clenched together. His head was bent forward and his hair hide his face from view, just in case he couldn't hold back his tears.

But he did. And so did Lily. That single tear was the only she would shed and the only emotion she would show.

When the train stopped Lily slipped out of the train car soundlessly. It was only once she was gone that Snape opened his eyes and as Snape stared at the seat she had just occupied, it almost seemed like a piece of Lily was still there, as though she had left something behind. When Snape got up and stood at the door of the train car he looked back and felt a strange presence. It felt like just beyond the visible spectrum were two shadows, one of him and one of Lily, both stuck in their rigid, emotionless poses. Forever trapped in that colourless, dark world that pressed on the train car. He looked at the scene as though looking at an old, faded, sepia picture; it made him feel drained and saddened. Then he blinked and it was all gone, the train car was empty and normal.

Outside the last rays of sun were falling behind the horizon and the orange and red light hit Lily at a strange angle. Her red hair blowing in the wind looked like an unruly flame and her eyes sparkled with an intense glow. She stood on the outdoor train platform holding her luggage, her school kilt fluttering dangerously high, her slender and softly curved body outlined against the evening sky. When she turned to Snape she gave him a small smile and again it seemed like time stood still and the moment felt like a sepia portrait but instead of the dull, lifeless, sad shadow in the train car, this image was full of life, light and colour. It looked as though the sun was shying away from Lily's tremendous glow. Briefly Snape wondered how he looked to Lily in that moment, but then the thought was drowned out by the beckoning of the real world.

Their supervisor from Beauxbatons had arrived.


	29. A Welcome Distraction

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Chapter 29: A Welcome Distraction

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

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"Gut Evening!"

A tall, blond, thin Frenchman with a chiseled jaw and high cheekbones greeted them with a distinctive southern French accent. The man was wearing a pale blue suit with a matching top hat and looked ready to conduct a fairy orchestra. He smiled at Professor Slughorn and then continued,

"Welcome to France! Oui, Bienvenue! Ef you vould pleez follow moi, we vill be on our way to ze castle."

Slughorn smiled back and beckoned Snape and Lily, who strode past the Professor and the guide quickly, her school kilt fluttering behind her. The guide seemed a bit shocked but started walking in the same direction as Lily. They walked along a short path and around a curve where a pair of sparkling, white carriages with four horses each were waiting.

"They aren't going to change back into pumpkins and mice at midnight, are they?"

Asked Professor Slughorn with a chuckle.

"But mais oui! C'est la tradition ici."

Professor Slughorn looked confused then tapped his ear three times,

"Sorry, say that again. They DO turn back into pumpkins?"

Snape left the Professor and headed into one of the glittering carriages, Lily was already inside staring out the window. Soon the horses began to trotter off and in the silent carriage the clip-clop of their hooves rang particularly loud.

As the carriages made their way towards the school Lily's eyes flickered open wider than usual and gasped in awe. Snape looked out the window to see what had shocked Lily and was met with an amazing sight. Just in front of them was Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. It was a great castle that looked as though it was half stone, half crystal as it sparkled in the quickly falling dusk light. Several powder blue and gold triangular flags were waving from the tops of high tower spires. The lawn in front of the school was beautifully decorated with symmetrical hedges that even Versailles would envy. Some of the shrubs and flower patches seemed to be humming with life. As the carriage passed them they exploded into pieces revealing that they were not shrubs but in fact hundreds of small fairies and fireflies.

As the carriages escorting the Hogwarts party arrived in front of the main doors of the castle Lily and Snape saw another set of carriages arriving from the other side of the semi-circle driveway. From within them stepped four boys that looked to be around the same age as Lily and Snape. Two of them, one with dark brown hair and eyes and a face like an armadillo and another one with long, dirty blond hair in a ponytail and a square angular jaw, were playfully punching each other while another one, the tallest and most muscular with shaggy, short, black hair and hazel eyes tried to separate them. The last one, with short black hair slicked back, so intense it shone blue bringing out his sky blue eyes, lazily stepped out of the carriage stretching and yawning. They were all above average height, although only two anywhere near as tall as Snape, and extremely muscular for teenagers. The second carriage contained a burly older wizard wearing a heavy fur coat similar to the one the four boys were wearing. Snape assumed this was the chaperone from Durmstrang and that the four boys were the winning team from the same school.

Snape knew Durmstrang's reputation very well as several of his housemates had relatives or friends who had attended. Durmstrang had a reputation for specializing in dark arts and other disciplines considered less savory at Hogwarts or Beauxbatons and as such it attracted some extremely talented but somewhat shady students and professors. Snape made a note of watching his back around them, just in case. While it was winter, in southern France the weather was mild and already the Durmstrang students seemed uncomfortable in their heavy furs and thick leather jackets.

Suddenly, to Snape's right a statute began to walk… and talk.

"Bonjour mes amis! Bienvenue! I welcome you to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Please gather around 'ere as our fine students 'ave prepared a small welcome pour vous!"

Snape stared up at the incredibly tall and thin women who had addressed them. She reminded Snape of an overgrown vulture. When she spread out her hands in welcome it almost seemed like she would knock over several student but they instinctively ducked out of danger. Lily and Snape stood where they were instructed. The boys and teacher from Durmstrang glanced over at the Hogwarts group. Snape didn't like how long one of the boy's gazes lingered on Lily's exposed legs. Slughorn smiled at the teacher who grimaced back, it seemed they knew each other.

Snape did not have much time to assess the Durmstrang team as the Beauxbatons students began their "small welcome". The sun was nearly set but the coming darkness was quickly dispelled by bright flashes of glittering lights that burst forth from nowhere. It looked as though thousands of tiny twinkling bulbs had surrounded the guests and the castle shone with light. From the castle two dozen girls and boys in long blue gowns appeared and began singing in French. At first the song was mild and relaxed but then, just as the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the horizon, loud bangs burst the quite atmosphere as fireworks were set off behind the castle. The fireworks filled the sky with orange birds and purple flowers, the fleur-de-lis and even letters; some in English and some in what Snape assumed was the common language spoken at Durmstrang, either Bulgarian or Hungarian.

As the fireworks show ended a different show began. Around 50 students were now in front of the main school doors and they were all singing and dancing in perfect formation, all in French of course. Lily seemed to know song as she mouthed along and stood stock still. Snape nudged her and she mouthed back, _national anthem_. Snape did his best to look respectful until the students burst into a different song. Now several girls and a boy made their way towards the guests watching the spectacle. All the males present including Slughorn and the Durmstrang teacher received sashes while Lily received a large bouquet of flowers wrapped in a similar sash by a tall French boy who winked at Lily and smiled a little too long. Snape felt a sense of satisfaction when Lily completely ignored him. Three girls in particular lingered much longer than necessary after placing sashes on their assigned guests. The girls giggled and threw their hair back as they talked with the Durmstrang boys. It was then that one of the girls wearing a Beauxbatons uniform broke from the large group of sash bearers and stood between the Hogwarts group and the Durmstrang group. She was less feminine looking than the other girls but certainly still pretty, or perhaps she would be if she wasn't hunching and if she had bothered to brush her short chestnut hair. She stood facing the school awkwardly. This marked the end of the welcoming ceremony and the large vulture statue woman spoke again.

"I certainly 'ope our guests enjoyed our little show. Pleeze, join us inside for some very vonderful food!"

The woman turned and walked inside. Slowly the other students followed.

"Well wasn't that just wonderful? I'll head inside then, come after you've introduced yourselves then. Ah, Professor Desislav, would you join me?"

Professor Slughorn addressed Lily and Snape and then motioned towards the Durmstrang teacher who grimaced once again but walked with Slughorn into the castle. The boy with the armadillo face who had been staring at Lily's legs almost jumped next to her.

"Hello, my name is Yanko. And you are?"

"Not interested."

Lily tried to brush him away and walk towards the castle but he wouldnt give up that easily.

"Come now, aren't we are supposed to be like, cooperating and making friends? They said the Hogwarts team was Severus Snape and Lily Evans, you must be Lily right?"

Lily stopped and looked at him.

"If you knew my name why did you ask? Did you think perhaps he was Lily?"

Lily motioned towards Snape who gave Yanko the most loathing stare he could. Yanko just smiled and turned back towards Lily.

"Well you never know, you Englishmen have some strange names."

"Names are determined by language. Of course you find our names strange just as we find Yanko to be odd."

"Excuse my friend…

It was the boy with the long blond hair in a ponytail.

… he loses his ability to think logically when a pretty girl is around."

"Loses? Doesn't look like he ever possessed that ability."

Snape scoffed. When he said this, the third boy with the shaggy black hair stepped over.

"We are the best of our school, which is how we won our contest. It's a bit presumptuous to call us stupid isn't it?"

"All I see is that there are four of you and only two of us."

"And a girl no less! Likely she was more of liability"

It was the blond boy. Lily took over the banter again.

"What is that supposed to mean exactly? What did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't. The name is Bahlmoore, Bahl for short."

"Well you're about to be ball-less and a few inches shorter buddy."

Lily raised her wand and pointed it at Bahlmoore who instinctively covered his crotch.

"Ugh, how ah-gress-if!"

It was the three Beauxbatons girls who were previously flirting with the Durmstrang boys.

"Huh?"

Lily looked at the three girls with a look of disbelief.

"Who the hell are you?"

The tallest and prettiest girl, who was also obviously the leader, stepped forward. She had long straight blond hair and large brown eyes. She almost looked like she was related to Malfoy.

"I am Veronique. This is Bernadette and Claire."

Veronique motioned towards a curvy dark haired girl with tan skin and then a brunette with angular features that stood posed as though she was having her photo taken for a magazine cover.

"And we are, Belletrois. We run this school."

"You don't say? What exactly do the headmistress and teachers do then?"

Veronique laughed shrilly,

"I assume you find yourself to be very funny. We control what happens beyond the classrooms, we know all, see all and hear all."

The other two chimed in with a

"That's right."

"So then I would assume that you're the winners of the Hunt for Beauxbatons then?"

Lily said mockingly. Veronique looked awkwardly away.

"No, we do not strive to participate in such unbecoming activities as ladies. 'Owever, some ladies of a different inclination…

Veronique paused for a moment here to give Lily a short up and down stare.

… would spend their beauty sleep running around the castle grounds like an animal. Isn't that correct Eloise?"

Veronique was now looking at the frumpy girl who had been standing quietly behind them this whole time. Everyone else turned and followed Veronique's gaze to her. Eloise was slightly surprised by the sudden attention as she seemed to be focusing on Lily's kilt when Veronique mentioned her. She said nothing but she averted her eyes and flinched.

"She iz a shame to the honour of our school."

"Why because she knows how to use her wand for more than do-ups and eye shadow application? And did you guys learn English in the 16th century or something?"

The fourth boy, with blue-black hair who had so far remained silent, let out a short laugh. The other three boys turned to look at him and then back to Lily.

"You got Damyan to laugh… not bad, not bad at all…"

It was the boy with shaggy black hair and hazel eyes who spoke.

"Seems I'm the only one who hasn't introduced themselves, I am Aleksandar, pleasure to meet you."

Aleksandar said in a husky voice and held out his hand for Lily but she just stared at him and said,

"Actually you aren't, and so far I'd hardly call this pleasurable. Come on Sev."

Lily took Snape's hand roughly and pulled him towards the castle. Snape said nothing, just stared at Aleksandar who seemed totally unperturbed by Lily's attitude. Snape didn't let his attention linger too long on them; Lily was holding his hand. Her fingers were freezing cold, likely from standing outside to watch the welcoming performance but still, it was nice.

When they got inside Professor Slughorn was waiting for them outside the Dining Hall.

"Ah there you are. Now I have prepared a bit of an entrance for us. Don't worry I will take care of it all just walk in behind me."

Lily smiled but then turned to Snape with a look at said _I-don't-like-the-sound-of-this_. Moments later the Veronique, Bernadette and Claire came in and scurried gracefully into the dining hall. The Durmstrang group filed in as well and stood next to their chaperon.

"Professor, what does Professor Desislav teach at Durmstrang?"

"Also Potions. It seems we will have an excellent meeting of the minds. While he doesn't have my experience, he is known for experimenting. I'm sure you two would benefit from a bit of guidance from him. Variety in instruction is practical after all."

Lily smiled and nodded in agreement. The smile disappeared as soon as Slughorn turned away and Lily was back into her sullen mood.

A few minutes later Slughorn indicated that they were going to walk into the dining hall. The entrance Slughorn prepared mostly involved a panoramic that projected images of famous British witches and wizards, all former Hogwarts students, onto the walls of the dining hall. Lily and Snape just tried to hide behind Slughorn so they weren't noticed, something not altogether difficult considering the professor's girth.

Lily and Severus took their places at a special table in the middle of the dining room where Eloise was already seated. Snape hadn't noticed her come in. She smiled slightly at Snape and Lily who returned the smile. Then the Durmstrang students and Professor Desislav came in. Their entrance consisted of acrobatics and fire wielding; it was an aggressive display of dominance. It was something you might expect from a boxer or wrestler's entrance into the ring. Aleksandar sat next to Snape who sat next to Lily who sat next to Eloise who was next to Yanko and looked none too happy about it. The professors sat at the front of the dining hall with the Beauxbatons headmistress who was standing at a podium and calling for silence.

"Avant que nous commençons à manger, tous les professeurs veulent dire quelque chose. C'est mon plaisir de vous…"

As the headmistress began her speech in French, Lily groaned then turned to everyone else at the table.

"Hey, do any of you actually want to listen to this nonsense? Every professor and government official here from all three countries will be making speeches. Do you guys even understand French?"

Everyone nodded no.

"I know a translation spell that might make it easier for everyone."

"I don't even want to listen to this dribble even in English Severus. So can I turn this off? Yes?"

Lily looked around the table and everyone nodded in agreement, including Eloise although her head was down and her gaze was still stubbornly fixed on the empty plate in front of her.

Lily raised her wand and muttered something under her breath. She remained that way for two full minutes until she put her wand down and leaned back in her chair saying,

"That's better."

And it was. No one at the table could hear Headmistress Olympe speaking anymore. In fact it was quite silent except for the noises Eloise was making by playing with her cutlery.

"What if they say something to us or we have to clap?"

Asked Aleksandar,

"Don't worry. This illusion makes it seem we are all sitting attentively and will clap when everyone else in the room does. If any of the speakers mention us we will smile and if we are asked any questions they will penetrate the sound barrier, which goes both ways; we can't hear them and they can't hear us."

"That's an impressive bit of magic."

Damyan said, speaking for the first time. Lily turned to Damyan and said

"Well, I didn't get here riding on Severus' coattails."

Yanko who was pulling out a deck of cards from his pocket, said,

"Oh, is that a popular form of transportation in England?"

Lily turned and looked at Snape with a wide-eyed look on her face that asked _is-he-fucking-serious_? Lily's face made Snape laugh, or Snape's version of laughing anyways and Lily burst out into giggles as well. When the laughter subsided Lily just said,

"Nevermind."

And put her head down on the table while Yanko shuffled the deck and passed out cards to his schoolmates.

iiiiiiiiiii

After 2 hours of speeches dinner was finally served. Snape did his best to identify and consume the French food but found it somewhat difficult. Lily seemed to be familiar with the food but it didn't seem she had much of an appetite.

After dinner the guests were shown around the castle. Highlights included the greenhouses that were attached to the back of the castle and served as an indoor garden as well as classrooms for Herbology. Apparently wandering first year student disappeared into the plant life from time to time and Lily remarked that it reminded her of the Forbidden Forest, except more prissy. Beyond the greenhouses was a large stable with gigantic horses and several unicorns. Apparently students used to use these as their primary mode of transportation to the neighboring villages on weekends but since technology has made travel by horse peculiar to the muggle population, student used bikes or flooed into one of the many wizard owned establishments. There were a series of catacombs beneath the school which were forbidden to students but the group was given a guided tour, albeit a short one. Unlike the moving staircases at Hogwarts, Beauxbatons staircases sometimes become slides. Thus, most students preferred to magic their way from one landing to another. The most popular was a spell that conjured a cloud which floated you up to the next level. No one in the party seemed all that eager to learn that particular spell preferring to conjure a simple metal platform. Apparently first and second years had to make do without the complicated spell and were constantly the victims of the stairs' temperaments. Students were also separated by year rather than into houses which each year sleeping in a different hallway with the girl end of the hallway inaccessible to the boys in the same year by a magical curtain. If a student failed a year he or she would have to remain in the same hall as the previous year but thankfully, since rooms were single occupancy, it didn't get too awkward.

Finally after what was now an exhausting day, Lily, Snape and the Durmstrang Four were led to their rooms. They were all in one hallway at the top floor of the castle, not including the towers. Snape had the corner room, whose walls faced two hallways. Next to him was Lily then Aleksandar then Yanko then Bahlmoore and finally Damyan at the end of the hall. Each of these rooms had its own bathroom which was unusual as the other students had to share a bathroom with everyone else in their year but of course, separated by gender. Lily hurried into her room, keen to avoid having to talk any further with the boys from Durmstrang.

Snape went into his room as well where his luggage was waiting for him. He sat on the bed for a moment and took in the room. It was fairly big, as big as his dorm back at Hogwarts except this was all for one person. The bed was extremely large, king size no doubt but a bit too soft and plush for Snape's liking. The walls and linens were all deep blue and gold with the wood furniture a deep mahogany. The bed was in the middle of the back wall when you walked into the room with two mahogany night tables of either side. To the right of the bed was a door which led to a small wrought iron balcony with a matching set of tables and two chairs. On the right hand wall was a small vanity. On the left wall were a dresser and the door leading to the luxurious marble bathroom which looked like the prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts. On the same wall as the door leading into the room and opposite the bed was a large desk. The carpet was plush and the same blue and gold pattern as the bedspread with a large crest in the middle which Snape assumed was the school crest.

Snape fell back onto the bed, not interested in unpacking right at that moment but his relaxation was interrupted by a loud fizzing sound. Snape raised his head slightly off the bed to find the source of the noise. It was coming from the right-hand wall between the vanity and the door. Snape stared in confusion as a bright red arch seemed to appear on the wall and then suddenly the wall disappeared, replaced by a glass door not unlike the one leading to the small balcony. Someone knocked and Lily's voice came from the other side of the door. Snape immediately got off the bed and walked over.

"Sev, let me in. You have to open the door."

Snape opened the door hesitantly and Lily was indeed standing on the other side. She walked in past Snape.

"Lily, did you cut a hole into the wall?"

"Don't worry it's only a spell. This way we won't have to go out into the hall to go into each other's room or talk. Course we could go out on the balcony, mine is right next to yours, but it's cold. Did you see the view though? Not bad right?"

Snape sat on the bed slowly; he was still overcoming the shock of a door appearing on his wall.

"Why did you bother knocking if you cut a hole in the wall? Not that I mind the manners."

"The spell doesn't work unless you let me in. Or else anyone could cut into anyone's wall right?'

"Makes sense, but won't we get in trouble?"

"No one else will know it's there but you and me. Besides what is there to get in trouble about?"

"Well, you're a girl and I'm a boy."

"Gosh you sound like you're 12. Why? Are you worried you might give in to your baser instincts during the night?"

Lily crawled onto the bed next to Snape as she asked this in an uncharacteristically deep voice.

"Don't be silly Lily."

Lily was almost straddling Snape at this point.

"I'm not being Silly Lily, I'm being Serious Lily."

Lily put her lips right next to Snape's ear and asked,

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi, cette soir?"


	30. To Infinity and the Beyond

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Chapter 30: To Infinity and the Beyond

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: Hopefully it doesn't happen again! If you'd like visual aids, you can do a search for the Waite-Rider tarot card deck online.

Enjoy the chapter!

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Even if Snape understood any French he wouldn't have heard much of what Lily said, having a girl on top of you will have that sort of affect on teenage boys.

"W-what?"

"That's right, I forgot you don't know any French. Let me put it another way then."

Lily looked down at Snape wearing a mischievous smile. She somewhat aggressively pushed Snape's chest so that he was lying flat on his back on the bed. Lily moved so that her face was right above Snape's, her hair tickled his jaw line. Snape felt as though someone had put him in a Full-Body Bind, he felt like he should be doing something but he couldn't seem to move nor speak. Snape's face must have betrayed his feelings because Lily's expression suddenly changed. Lily slowly moved off of Snape and turned her head away, tears shining in her eyes.

"Of course, I apologize. I took the joke too far."

Lily said this in a hollow and overly formal voice. Snape was still regaining his senses and managed to produce nothing but a quiet gurgling sound instead of words of comfort. In response Lily gave a small laugh.

"Come now Snape, you're supposed to be able to control your emotions better than that, don't look so disgusted."

Again confusion and shock had rendered Snape speechless.

"Your friends didn't seem to mind so much when they were on top on me in the maze. I suppose they can afford that luxury, right?"

This unpleasant memory stirred feelings of shame, guilt and anger in Snape so that his tone came off more accusatory than he had intended,

"What's that supposed to mean?

"Nothing, forget it! I'm going to bed."

"No, hang on. Are you comparing me to-to THEM? To what they did?"

"No not the actions just the attitude."

"What? If anyone's attitude is off, it's yours Lily. Have you been taking potions again?"

Lily whirled around, her face shone with tears.

"No I have not!"

Lily turned back around as another wave of tears came over her.

"It's my fault for thinking anything had changed."

With that Lily stalked off through the door in the wall and slammed it shut. Snape got up and tried to follow her but it was locked, not even _Alohamora_ worked. After struggling with the door for a few minutes and calling Lily's name to no effect Snape shouted,

"Fine then! Think whatever you want I don't care anymore.

Snape shut the light and threw himself under his bed covers but tossed them away and off the bed almost instantly; they smelled like Lily.

iiiiiiiiiii

_Snape recognizes it as soon as he takes his first breath; he's had this dream before. The warm, damp, musty air and the small cocoon shuttering as it clings to a small branch. Suddenly the dream seems to lurch forward in one sudden movement and the cocoon is picked up by a particularly powerful gust of wind and falls into a muddy puddle below. Severus tries to reach forward and catch the cocoon but he cannot move. Something about the way it slowly sinks into the mud makes him panic and he tries again, with more urgency, to pick up the cocoon, to protect it, to clean it and somehow put it back on that branch. But he knows, even as he struggles, that there is no going back. There is no way to reattach the cocoon and make things as they were._

Snape woke to find himself clawing at the air above him, trying to reach for something. He remembered that he had had a dream but the details were slipping away from him with each passing second, like honey off an oiled spoon. As he stared at the ceiling in concentration trying to remember the dream, Snape's mind also slowly became aware that something was different, something was not right… and then of course the past night came back to him. He is not at Hogwarts, he is at Beauxbatons as a guest because he was part of the winning Hogwarts team. He looked around and noticed that his blanket was still on the floor where he roughly tossed it in anger last night. He looked at the wall and saw the outline of the door Lily created between their two rooms and a fresh wave of anger flowed over him. Deciding that trying to figure out what Lily was going on about was only going to make it hard to concentrate, Snape jumped out of bed, dressed and went down to breakfast.

It took him longer to reach the dining hall than it would have at Hogwarts not only because he felt like the dungeons were closer than his room here but also because he obviously didn't know the way by heart.

Lily came down to breakfast rather late just as Slughorn walked over to them carrying several sheets of paper.

"This is your schedule. We have Arithmancy and Divination seminars today! Mr. Snape you are taking Arithmancy are you not?"

Snape nodded yes and Lily added that she was taking Divination.

"Well excellent than we have a good shot don't we?"

"A good shot at what Professor?"

"Well I wouldn't call it a competition as much as a mutual assessment of knowledge. During each seminar there is a practical component and well it certainly would look good to out-magic and outsmart the other winners. I'm very hopeful that you'll draw plenty of eyes Miss Evans."

Snape scowled at Slughorn who had, once again, overlooked him. Snape turned his attention to the schedule and saw that they had two subjects a day but noticed that some subjects were excluded; perhaps not all the schools had a Muggle Studies class. Snape saw that tomorrow they had Potions and Transfiguration followed by a tour of Paris the following day. The tour of Paris reminded Snape of his plans to lure Lily into a romantic mood. It seemed like it was years ago that he was fantasizing about the effects Paris at Christmas time might have on Lily and certainly it didn't seem he was doing a good job of coaxing her thus far. Lily's voice pushed him out of his trance.

"But sir I thought we were staying in Paris."

Lily looked nervously around as she said this in case someone might interpret it as an insult to their host school and from the attitudes Snape had encountered so far he felt it was a safe assumption that they would.

"Oh we will be after the seminars, see it's easier to hold them at a school where all the classrooms are already set up. The day before Christmas Eve the annual Jeux D'Hiver are held so we will be heading to our hotel accommodations in Paris the day before they begin."

"What are the Jeux D'Hiver? I mean I know it means Winter Games but…"

"It's a tradition here. Apparently every year French witches and wizards gather together to, well, show off a bit and get in a bit of shopping and selling before Christmas. New spells are demonstrated, new products on display, a large market selling everything you could think of and a fair with games that test your magical prowess for prizes. Beauxbatons student clubs set up stalls every year, you know the choir sings carols, the wizard's chess club sells handmade sets, potions club puts on brewing exhibitions, you know that sort of thing. Actually rumor has it the Brewing Channel might broadcast their Strengthening Solution exhibition live this year! It sounds wonderful doesn't it? Pity nothing of the sort exists in England."

"But where could they hold something like this? I mean in the middle of Paris no less?"

"Well we manage to hide Diagon Ally pretty well don't we? It seems they have some sort of magical plaza, can't tell you much they seem quite secretive about it actually."

Professor Slughorn took out his pocket watch and looked at the time and gave a loud and somewhat overdramatic gasp.

"Look at the time! Goodness we better hurry or we will be late for the first seminar and that certainly wouldn't leave a good impression!"

Both Lily and Snape grabbed a few more bites of breakfast and then followed Professor Slughorn, neither one saying a word to the other.

The classroom in which the first seminar would take place was just down the corridor from the Dining Hall. Unlike their Hogwarts counterparts in Beauxbatons classrooms were set up like small auditoriums; they were small and circular with a large desk at the front of the classroom with the seats staggered in tiers. They reminded Snape of the dungeons and courtrooms in the Ministry of Magic and he was thus slightly uncomfortable.

Snape sat down on the second level of seats next to Lily and Slughorn and saw the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons winners already there but also what looked like a dozen upper class Beauxbatons students including those three somewhat annoying girls from yesterday. There were also several important looking witches and wizards who sat further up observing the winners.

A rather young wizard coughed at the front to get their attention. He was a tall man wearing a black pinstripe muggle suit and his black hair was greased in place as was his long swirly mustache. Snape repressed a laugh, he looked like one of those stuffy, rich Frenchmen in cartoons, all he was missing was a top hat and monocle, and perhaps a few pounds.

"Bienvenue! Today we will be discussing infinite combinations."

Snape was surprised at the sudden perfect English that was coming out of the man's mouth but then he noticed a metal collar around his neck and was certain it was some sort of magical device that translated the speaker's voice into several languages at once since none of the Durmstrang students looked confused either. He was glad he didn't need to rely on Lily for translations.

"The problem of infinite combinations has puzzled wizards and witches studying Arithmancy for centuries. Thus far only partial resolving theories have been discovered help to deal with this phenomenon. Can anyone name one?"

Lily looked around the room confused and Snape was about to answer when Damyan said,

"The Morgan Exchange."

"Yes very good, the Morgan Exchange which breaks the combinations into sequences and solves them before re-sequencing the answers for a finite resolution to the infinite combination. Any others anyone is familiar with?"

This time Snape made sure he got there first,

"Aryeing's Compromise."

"Ah yes, the rather difficult process of finding the number of possible resolutions to an infinite combination and solving them all one by one. Of course Aryeing never lived long enough to solve even 1/100,000,000,000,000,000 of the possibilities but in theory a viable solution. Any more?"

This time it was Eloise who spoke.

"Beurriotte's Law?"

"Hum, yes while not at direct solution to the issue of infinite combinations, Beurriotte's Law; which states that infinite and finite must complement each other and therefore that all things have an end and all things have beginnings after their ends, has been influential in the study of infinite combinations. Any other takers?"

The wizard, who had not introduced himself but seemed to feel everyone ought to know who he is, looked around the room for anymore hands. When none rose he continued.

"Well not a bad summary of current knowledge on infinite combinations but there is also Sigwez's Solution which takes a sample of various infinite combinations and uses common elements to devise a plausible answer, again also purely theoretical at this point in its research. Now can anyone tell us why infinite combinations are so important and intriguing?"

Snape answered having read about this very topic only a few days ago while studying for his exam.

"They are numerical patterns which exist in the natural environment, much like Fibonacci numbers, but only within objects of a magical nature. They all have a similar pattern but the combinations interchange apparently randomly and so it was only in 1386 that Maxplot Fidnnes, who had become obsessed with them after his wife's mysterious death, noticed a repeat combination. Until then in all his decades of recording the different infinite combinations, never had he seen a repeat combination until May 8th 1386. He devised that there must be an order to infinite combinations, that they were not infinite or random and there was in fact a way of solving them. It is believed that finding this solution will allow us to discover the true nature of magic and its place in the world."

"Very good Mr. Snape is it? Yes a very thorough explanation of this enchanting subject. So ever since Mr. Fidnnes' discovery, which has been confirmed no less than five times since, a renewed vigor in the study of infinite combinations began. The theories that some of you mentioned earlier all represent progress made in the field. Today we will discuss the issue of infinite combinations and attempt to wrap our heads around it. Of course no one is expecting a solution…

At this a few of the older witches and wizards chuckled in almost a patronizing way,

… but perhaps you will be able to help me scrutinize some of the theories and approaches to infinite combination study."

The professor sat down and gazed up at them expectantly. Snape felt this was quite a challenge to set a bunch of students who had not even graduated from regular school; this was the sort of problem you asked fellow professionals. Snape was racking his brain for any useful information when he noticed Lily's hand was raised.

"Yes dear?"

"Yes excuse me Sir, what did you say your name was?"

"Me? I am Professor Doleur, but surely you've heard of me?"

"Uh, no actually I haven't but perhaps it is because I don't study Arithmancy."

Professor Doleur gave a small chuckle as though that explained everything and started to turn away from Lily but she continued.

"Sorry, yes, but I actually have a question. What were the two objects that Mr, uh… Fidnnes was it? Yes? What were the objects he saw the repeated pattern on?"

"Well that makes no difference really; it could have been any objects they just happened to appear on those two. I believe the first was his wife's transfigured pincushion and the second his own wand. People wandered if he was just driven into seeing things by grief but like I said, repeat combinations have been confirmed by others."

"And what did the others see the repeat combinations on?"

Professor Doleur seemed to be getting a bit agitated but then smiled and took on a tone that one would use when speaking to an oblivious child.

"Of course people have already looked into the objects and have seen no pattern in them; gobstones, goblets, galleons, and no they don't all start with the letter 'g'."

There was another wave of chuckling at this. Lily looked annoyed.

"What were the pairs though? Was there ever a combination seen on three objects?"

"Well if you had studied Arithmancy these would already be well known to you as I am sure they are to nearly everyone else in this room. But alright let's see; the other 5 pairs have been a unicorn and a bludger, a galleon and a goblet, a book and Sneakascope, a telescope and floo powder and yes even a combination observed on three separate objects; a set of gobstones, a cursed bow and a set of silver scales."

Professor Doleur smiled a bit too widely at Lily and then added,

"Anything else Miss… Evans is it?"

Beside her Snape could see Professor Slughorn attempting to quiet Lily.

"Yes there is. Who did these things belong to? Were they all objects the discoverers owned?"

Professor Doleur seemed to consider this question for a few moments before answering,

"No, actually they all belonged to different people, family and friends. Although that makes perfect sense, they wouldn't have access to a stranger's objects why not record combinations on your own objects first right?"

It was now Lily's turn to consider this.

"Yes I suppose, but didn't the last 3 each belong to the discoverer's daughters? Each of those objects belonged to a different daughter, all of whom died the same day due to that very cursed bow."

"Well now Miss Evans let us not step into the realm of superstition and abandon science; that was purely a coincidence. Perhaps Mr. Sked just observed these mementos of his daughters more than other objects out of longing for them."

"That doesn't make any sense since all record of Mr. Sked's life shows him to be a workaholic who spent little to no time with his family or daughters. He does not even seem to have recalled that the dates on which he observed the repeat combinations was each of his daughter's birthdays, although on different years. At least he never seems to have noted this weird coincidence in any of his files."

Lily was looking over a book as she said this and Professor Doleur, his mouth slightly agape, walked over to Lily and peered over her shoulder at the book muttering as he looked between two open pages and read the information there,

"Children: Frau Sked born June 14th 1678…. combination observed on Mr. Sked's daughter's favorite set of gobstones June 14th 1707. Grechen Sked born November 26th… the second time the combination was observed was November 26th 1709 on a set of silver scales once belonging to his daughter Grechen. Olga Sked born July 2nd 1684… what makes Mr. Sked's observations unique is that his combination was the only to be observed on three separate occasions, the third occurring on July 2nd 1717, a year before his death, on the cursed bow that killed his three daughters seventeen years previous…"

Professor Doleur finished reading the sentence and took the book out of Lily's hands holding it close to his face. Snape could tell he was re-reading the information. After a few minutes of silence the professor stared at a spot on the wall blankly. Lily seemed to fear this was a sign of anger and began to explain herself.

"Well it's just that millions upon millions of combinations have been recorded by people and put in databases, in fact Severus has told me students at Hogwarts in Arithmancy classes do it regularly. It just seems odd that the only repeat combinations have shown up on objects belonging to people who were connected intimately. Th-that's all."

Professor Doleur still said nothing but continued to stand with the book in his hands staring resolutely at the wall until very suddenly he walked out of the classroom without saying anything.

Lily looked around at everyone who was now staring at her in stunned silence, and asked,

"So… does that mean the seminar is over?"

iiiiiiiiiii

After lunch both Lily and Snape headed up to their rooms for a short break before their Divination seminar was to start. Snape was fuming and Lily still seemed put off by something from yesterday which annoyed him even more as he was certain he had done nothing wrong at all. As they were floating up to the next landing, not trusting the stairs, Snape's anger overflowed and he whispered to Lily,

"You think you're so clever don't you?"

Lily ignored him but now that he had started, Snape seemed unable to keep the words from falling out of his mouth,

"You don't know the first thing about Arithmancy and now you've tricked a renowned researcher into wasting time looking into your little theory!"

Lily turned around looking shocked as she stepped off her floating platform onto the landing.

"Renowned? Please you had no idea who he was either. Anyways from what I read the study of infinite combinations has been stagnant for the past two centuries, it would do him good to have something new to look into. And I hardly tricked him, I just pointed out something I felt seemed like a pattern and he seemed to agree, that was the whole point of the seminar wasn't it?"

"You just didn't want to look like you didn't know anything when you couldn't name any theories so you brought it to a place you understood."

Both Lily and Snape were now walking very quickly down the hall towards their rooms.

"Yes I did, I spent all of last night looking up recent topics in Arithmancy and what is so wrong with that? I'd read about dear Mr. Sked in History of Magic and Muggle Studies when I was taking it. Seems he hated muggles and muggle-borns, in fact he was charged and imprisoned for addling the memories of a family of muggles whose son was in love with his youngest daughter Olga a few months before all three daughters died. Well I'm not surprised you'd defend someone like him."

"What? I never defended anyone!"

But Lily had already slammed her door to her room and Snape couldn't get a word in. Snape was really just embarrassed and aggravated that he had not been the one to draw attention in the seminar. After Slughorn disregarded him, he was keen to prove himself and he felt Arithmancy was the one topic in which he was sure to outshine Lily but that had been ruined. As honest as Lily had been with him about her lack of knowledge on the topic Snape wasn't sure he was ready to be quite so honest with her.

iiiiiiiiiii

The Divination seminar was going to be on tarot cards. Lily gave a small smile and sat down at a circular table that held a place card with the word 'Hogwarts' on it. The three girls from Beauxbatons sat on their own away from Eloise giving her dirty looks every now and then while all four Durmstrang boys crowded around one table.

10 minutes later a short and thin Indian woman glided into the room. Her hair was black and held in one long tight braid that flowed down her back. She was covered in gold jewelry and every inch of her exposed skin seemed to be tattooed with loopy patterns, she looked like the statutes of Hindu goddesses Snape had seen in books. Everyone seemed very curious, including Lily.

"Welcome, my name is Radhika."

When she spoke there was the slightest trace of an accent in her voice.

"When I was invited to command this seminar I decided it would be best to discuss a medium common to Europeans rather than my preferred forms of Divination. Of course some see and some do not but tarot cards allow all those who know dee meanings of dee cards and their placement to find some truth. Dee best way to test one's seeing ability is to read dee cards for a stranger, this allows for clarity in interpretation as we are not muddled by our own preconceptions. Now gather in dee front; Beauxbatons will read for Hogwarts who will read for Durmstrang who will read for Beauxbatons… shall we start dere?"

The boys from Durmstrang looked nervous and confused; it seemed none of them were particularly well versed in tarot cards. What resulted was Eloise having to endure 30 minutes of Yanko shuffling the cards like they were a playing deck which made Eloise wince and Bahl furiously flipping pages to find the correct interpretation of The High Priestess. At last Bahl enthusiastically announced that all of Eloise's chickens would find love but run away to Sweden leaving her destitute but with a feeling of relief. Eloise cocked her head for a few seconds almost in amazement before saying,

"I haven't got any chickens."

The smile was wiped off Bahl's face as Yanko began to roar with laughter in his seat, even Aleksander and Damyan smirked. Radhika smiled genuinely at them,

"Well I don't suspect any of you see but that was a fairly accurate reading of dee cards, of course you actually _read_ seeing as you seemed to know none of the actual cards. Very well Hogwarts, you may now read for Durmstrang."

"What all four of them?"

"Yes, as a team."

This seemed to make Lily a bit more nervous but she took the deck and began shuffling it properly asking each of the Durmstrang winners to cut the deck in turn. Bahl grabbed Lily's hand when it was his turn to separate the deck and Snape gave him a threatening stare. Snape had no desire to help with the reading and allowed Lily to take the lead.

"Alright let's see we have the 4 of Wands, that's a good start seeing as there are four of you and the card represents harmony and positive results from hard work. I suppose that relates to your winning the Hunt, it would suggest that you all worked together very well to get through it."

Aleksander leaned in closer to the cards eagerly and suddenly very interested. Lily flipped the next card on which was a picture of a woman in some sort of garden with grapes, there was a bird on her hand.

"Next the 9 of Pentacles and it's reversed. Well, that would suggest excessive spending, unhappiness with a financial situation, or using money to fill empty emotional gaps. It would suggest you use money as a way of dealing with your problems but that it cannot be sustained."

Bahl, who was lounging inattentively looked at Lily now and narrowed his eyes. This seemed to make Lily even more nervous so she continued.

"Next the Hanged Man. Ah, this card suggests letting go, being at peace and accepting things as they are. Patient, passive and complacent. It would signify that one of you has finally let go of something that has been causing you pain and accepted your situation and this has brought you a great deal of relief."

At her words Damyan's blue eyes flickered to the card and then away again.

"The 6 of Wands. A rather simple card meaning leadership and success, a person who can clean up a messy situation and organize it into something great."

Aleksander nodded and leaned back, he seemed to feel the card was about him and was satisfied.

"And lastly, the 6 of Swords, hum two 6s and a 9… not that it means anything. Let's see this represents gradual changes, obstacles to overcome and a long journey but one that will leave you improved. So you're going to go on a difficult journey but come out better because of it."

Lily finished and smiled at Yanko who also seemed happy with what he obviously assumed was his fortune. Lily looked up at Radhika who was nodded in approval and Lily sighed, glad it was over.

"Very well done Hogwarts, you have a good grasp of dee meanings of dee cards and did fairly well at interpreting them into prophesy. Next Beauxbatons will read for Hogwarts."

Eloise took the place of the Durmstrang boys across from Lily and Snape who felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as she shuffled the deck. Eloise was only looking at Lily.

"That was very good Lily. I prefer the Tiertarock deck myself but ze Raider-Waite haz become so popular I suppose zis iz preferable for everyone."

"Yes, I suppose. Although I have to say you got a rather shoddy reading, when I saw your first card come up as The High Priestess I was impressed, it's such a powerful card."

Eloise blushed slightly and nodded yes although she didn't seem to want to discuss it any further. She asked Lily and then Snape to cut the deck and then suddenly her expression became very serious as she flipped over the first card.

"The Ace of Cups, zis must be for you Lily. It iz your past; love and compassion from family and friends, joy and inner peace. Love iz the essence of the situation, or is waz of your past."

Eloise flipped the next card. It was a heart soaked in rain with three swords piercing it, Snape did not like the look of it.

"Ah, the 3 of Swords. It is a card of sadness and loss, of emotional turmoil but zis pain from your past must be dealt with lest it consumes you Mr. Snape."

Snape jumped a bit at being addressed this way and he caught Lily's gaze which looked sympathetic and Severus knew she was thinking of his childhood. The two cards couldn't be any more different. Snape expected Lily's next card to be a giant sun or something but he couldn't be more wrong. Eloise gasped as she flipped over a card showing a man with several swords jutting out of his back and a black sky overhead.

"It iz the 10 of Swords, a card which signifies death more so even than ze Death card. Zis iz supposed to be your present a-and… well it is upright so it iz not a totally 'orrible omen. It does indeed suggest feelings of 'opelessness, being trapped inside your own mind by emotions and confusion. 'Owever, the golden sky beyond suggests your troubles are almost over and you must not do anything rash now in your pain that may keep you from being 'appy and successful in ze future."

Eloise gave Lily a weak smile and she nodded for Eloise to continue, Snape knew his present would be next. When Eloise turned over the card Snape saw a man sitting up in bed with many swords on the wall next to him.

"Ze 9 of Swords, you are certainly some pair. Zis card suggests depression, premonitions and bad dreams, suffering, disappointment and that someone iz being cruel to you, 'owever, in general zis iz a card of overreaction. Usually the things ze person fears will likely not come to pass. Do not stress too much Mr. Snape."

Eloise went to turn the next card which was meant to depict Lily's future but she hesitated before turning the card.

"Ze future can always change so no stress over what I say… yes?"

Both Lily and Snape nodded in understanding. Eloise turned over the card and Snape frowned at it.

"Ze..ze Lovers. This card is not zimply about love, it is about making decisions and ch-choices."

Eloise was blushing slightly at the way the four Durmstrang boys were now looking between the card, which depicted a naked man and women, and Lily.

"Uh, yes it means something will change in a relationship, that life will change and you will have to decide between per'aps two choices. It iz important to consider well because zis choice will have a big impact on your life."

"Next we 'ave the Queen of Swords for your future. You see she holds both her 'and and sword forwards which is both inviting and threatening. You must be careful not to lead only with your sword or no one will take your 'and. You are a free-thinker and very smart and your future shows fewer grey clouds than your past. You will 'ave many new ideas and be able to put your ideas into action, it is a very good card. All swords for you, very strange."

Eloise drew two more cards and said,

"These cards show something you 'ave in common as a team."

Eloise flipped the first card; it portrayed a king on his throne.

"Ze King of Pentacles. Zis represents a man in both your lives. He is a person of great power within 'iz castle but can be difficult to tolerate at times. He is of great wealth and enjoys showing off his grandness, 'az a 'uge ego and 'as no mercy for those oo cross 'im. You must watch out for zis person as 'ee is a danger to you."

James Potter popped into Snape's mind immediately and he nodded in understanding. He glanced to his side and saw Lily smirking and shaking her head and Snape was certain he heard her mutter _git_ under her breath. Eloise smiled slightly and was still looking up as she turned the final card. She had not yet looked down to see what it was when she screamed and fell off her chair as though in pain. She continued to moan on the floor as Snape looked at the card which was titled _The Tower_.

Radhika grabbed Eloise and slowly helped her back onto her chair but she did not force Eloise to continue the reading, instead she took over.

"Dee Tower, dee card dat follows dee Devil card. Believed to be dee symbol of dee Tower of Babel or a representation of dee Harrowing of Hell where dee Christian prophet releases souls from purgatory. It is a foul omen often thought to bring epiphanies of the most terrible kind to people. Previously held ideas must be changed in order to change the direction of your life or dee changes will be made for the individuals. I do not mean to be scaring yeh but this card it for both of you, together. There is no going back to where ye once were."

Lily was staring at the card which depicted a tall stone tower being hit by lightening as people jumped off it. Snape was reminded of Lattimer and, for some strange reason, of a cocoon.

Eloise was no longer screaming but whimpering and looking feverish. Radhika dismissed them and gave Eloise some tea to calm her. Snape's mind was reeling. As Snape got off his chair he realized how tense he had been sitting in his chair, all his muscles were clenched. Lily and Snape left the class together and walked in silence. Lily was pale and couldn't seem to swallow properly. Snape skipped dinner and went straight to his room to sleep, he felt as though he had been running the past 2 hours not sitting in a chair.

It occurred to Snape that Eloise had seen something, that perhaps this was how she had singlehandedly won the Hunt at Beauxbatons although Snape couldn't be certain of the difficulties she actually faced. Still she had beat out the rest of the participants at her school. It also made sense why everyone else thought she was weird, if she was a Seer she may be plagued by visions and other strange ailments, Snape had read about them.

As he undressed Snape also thought of Lattimer and the tower and Radhika's words, of Lily's The Lovers card, of his future and his past and the swords that litter his fortunes and Lily's. Had he impacted Lily's fortunes and made them grim? Was something going to happen? Was Potter so dangerous that he came up in their fortunes? What had Lily said about him on the train about lives being destroyed in that tiny tower? Snape had a fleeting vision in his mind's eye of Lattimer jumping off of Big Ben and splattering his brains all over the cobbled London streets like the people on the card. The body on the ground became Lily who was stabbed by 10 swords. Snape shook his head to rid himself of the images. The images and thoughts became blurred and Snape fell asleep.

He slept deeply, dreaming horrible nightmares of being chained to a werewolf who he stabbed through the heart three times only to discover it was Lily. He was in such a deep sleep that, while normally alert and somewhat paranoid, Snape did not hear someone come into his room and then slip out a few minutes later. But, somewhere in his dreams a door opened and before he woke a cocoon flashed across his dream, the smallest crack appeared on the surface and something within stirred.


	31. Charmed into Changing

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Chapter 31: Charmed into Changing

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: I have noticed that a few of you are rather confused by Lily's behaviour, allow me to apologize, I had planned on publishing the next few chapters in rapid succession but since I was on vacation I have not been able to. Rest assured things will make a great deal more sense once you read the next oh, 5 or 6 chapters, but allow me to make a few points that might help until then and will of course help in understanding the story as a whole.  
First and foremost this story, as some of you might have noticed, is told almost entirely from Snape's perspective in that the readers know only what Snape knows and interprets things his way just as Rowling did with Harry in the original books. And just as Harry was on many occasions, Lily and Snape were whisked away as soon as they left the hospital so none of the fallout from what happened in the chamber has been dealt with by Lily and Severus, yet. This one sided perspective also means that things are not always as he understands them nor are the readers privy to all sides of the story as Lily alluded to when she mentioned that Snape has no idea what is happening in "that little tower". This is also why Potter is perceived in one way thus far because Snape's opinion of James has never exactly been multifaceted. The same goes for the confusion surrounding Lily (which will be dispelled), but remember that Lily is going through a period of transition, turmoil and transformation that she hardly understands let alone Snape. What she will become remains to be seen (perhaps some of you have noticed the recurring cocoon imagery, hint hint). I think, and hope, that you will all look back once you have read the next few chapters and go "ohhhhh that's what that was all about!"... until then enjoy the next chapter!

Oh, and I hope you all like the cover picture I designed! Let me know what you think!

iiiiiiiiiii

Morning dawned and despite a longer sleep than usual, Snape still felt drained. Perhaps, more than the events of yesterday, it was the restlessness of his sleep that made him feel so tired. He had been plagued by terrible dreams and the fragments that remained in his mind as he groggily got out of bed made him shudder. Stuck to the wall next to the mirror in the bathroom was their schedule. Today they had Transfiguration and Charms seminars. Snape groaned thinking about his housemates who were likely enjoying their holidays at the moment and did not have a care in the world. How was it that part of the prize for surviving the Hunt was more lessons than everyone else? Snape ran his hands through his hair and felt his fingers get greasy. He scowled remembering the nicknames Potter and Black called him and decided to take an extra long shower. As the mirror fogged with steam, the ink from the heart scrawled next to the words _Free day in Paris_ on the schedule posted on the wall began to run.

When Snape got out of the shower he looked into the mirror at his reflection and sighed. Even through the steamy fog he could make out a few of the larger scars on his torso. He liberally applied some dittany cream. It helped to slowly fade the scars and he hoped someday they would be faint enough to forget. When the cream had soaked into his skin, he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into his room.

"Ugh, finally! I thought you'd drowned in there Severus."

Lily was on Snape's bed flipping through a book. When he opened the door to the bathroom she got up and turned to look at him. The book fell out of Lily's hand as she stared wide eyed and mouth agape at Severus. Snape also froze in shock and stared at a quickly-becoming-red Lily. A drop of water fell from Snape's hair and onto his shoulder before sliding down his torso to meet and disappear into the towel around his waist. Lily's eyes followed the path of the water drop until it met the towel at which point she promptly turned, facing away from Snape.

"Oh sorry I thought you changed in the, the bathroom. Well, I'll just, I'm going in my room and then yeah. Okay."

Lily scurried through the door between their walls and shut it behind her rather loudly. Snape stared at the door for a while before looking down at his chest, at the scars, at his pale skin, as his scrawny frame and then walked over and collapsed on the bed. Embarrassed couldn't begin to describe how Severus felt. He bit into his pillow and screamed in frustration. Why oh why did Lily have to see him that way? Snape had always hoped the first time Lily saw anything of his body it would be in a dimly lit room and he would have gained some weight and perhaps she'd be ever so slightly drunk. It took all of Snape's will power to get up and dress and go downstairs to breakfast.

Lily was not at the breakfast table when he got there but she was already seated in the seminar classroom when he walked in. Snape said nothing and did not even look at Lily. When he walked in Lily's body became more rigid but she tried to smile and asked,

"So I wonder what we'll be doing today?"

Snape simply looked around awkwardly and prayed the seminar leader would hurry and arrive already.

Snape did not have to wait long. A mere five minutes after he arrived in the classroom a short, stumpy wizard, not more than three and a half feet tall wobbled in, several boxes were floating behind him in midair. When he reached the middle of the room a box floated in front of each of the winners and students present. The wizard seemed old, probably around Dumbledore's age and had a squished and wrinkled face that reminded Snape of a garden gnome. He had great tufts of grey hair sticking out of his ears that shook as he walked. They were so long Snape thought he could comb them over to cover the large bald spot on his head. He was dressed like one of the Gringott's goblins and Severus vaguely wondered if, perhaps, he was part goblin.

"Hello I am Professor Nambly and I will lead your transfiguration seminar. Transfiguration is easy, you just have to practice a spell, simple work no need to pat yourself on the back! Now feeling an object's essence THAT is something."

Professor Nambly smacked the desk when he said 'that' to emphasis his point and everyone jumped back slightly in surprise.

"See the wooden boxes? There's something in them. Transfigure it into something big enough to crack the box open. Well what are you waiting for?"

Everyone seemed to be looking around in alarm or confusion. Some people were looking at their boxes nervously as though they expected something to lunge out at them. Lily grimaced and picked up her box. She shook it and the pressed her ear against the box. She repeated this several times until Professor Nambly took note and came by. Snape was prodding his box with his wand.

"What're you doing there girl? It's not a Christmas present!"

"Well, I'm trying to get an idea of what is inside and I figure it works with Christmas presents why not with this? Well I know it's not alive and by the sound of it, it is made of metal or maybe hard plastic…"

"You have to feel it, feeeeeeeeeeeel it! Here! Watch this young man!"

Snape realized he was being addressed and looked up to find half the occupants of the class staring at him including Professor Nambly, who was only a head taller than the table on which Snape's box was sitting.

"I'm sending out small waves of magic and feeling the echo that comes back. Bit tough since I have to go through the wood but since I know its wood I can cancel out that echo and figure out what is inside and then I should be able to transfigure it."

"Right right right! That is the trick, so what is it?"

"Something made of rubber."

Snape waved his wand and muttered something under his breath. There was a cracking sound and the wood burst revealing a live badger. Professor Nambly clapped his small hands but Snape was staring transfixed at the pieces of wood, the cracks had reminded him of something. Suddenly the badger hissed at Snape and grew fangs. It tried to slither away but Professor Nambly caught it and transfigured it back into a rubber snake.

"Well not bad but it seems your transfiguration went wrong, still had some snake characteristics. No mind, no mind, you have the IDEA! That's what important. Okay girl have you done shaking your box yet huh?"

Lily did not seem too eager to try her hand at the task yet but she coughed and pointed her wand at her box anyways. She whispered a spell and her wooden box also burst forth revealing a large vase. Professor Nambly took it in his hands and said,

"Well we all get lucky then. Very well you did it! Want a cookie? Who's next?"

Lily sighed with relief as the Durmstrang Four tried to avoid making eye contact with the professor.

iiiiiiiiiii

After an awkward lunch Snape and Lily were back in the classroom for their Charms seminar. Their instructor was already waiting for them and she already had the attention of the Durmstrang boys and the suspicion of the Beauxbatons girls. The instructor stood at the front of the class smiling so widely Snape was certain her cheeks were sore. She had perfectly straight, shiny, white teeth and elbow-length, platinum blond hair set pin straight. She had big blue eyes and full red lips and was wearing a pink and purple flower pattern dress. Her nails were long and polished red. She looked like a freakish Barbie to Snape. From behind him where the three Beauxbatons girls were sitting Snape was sure he heard Claire say,

"They can't be real they hardly move."

"Well and very merry welcome to you all! I'm Cindy! Today we will learn to Charm! Yes the most important charm for anyone but especially those nearly of marriage age young ladies I see in the room! Charming charms! We will learn how to charm others, to exude a natural charisma, a 'je ne sais quoi' if you will! The spell is not enough; no, no, no, no! You must mean it! C.o.n.f.i.d.e.n.c.e! The charm is _Venustas Fides Fides _and requires you to make three equally large circles with your wand with each word. Now,"

Professor 'Cindy' opened a box and a peach coloured dummy jumped up and walked to the front of the class.

"You will all practice on Eric, my dummy. The reaction Eric has will show how well you have managed to charm! So who wants to go first?"

All the Durmstrang boys jumped up but were busy trying to chat up Cindy rather that practice on the dummy. Veronique tossed her hair and uncrossed her legs before getting up from her table, her two friends followed. Eloise also reluctantly got up and at that point both Snape and Lily finally got up and dragged themselves over to the pit of pep that was forming around Cindy.

Aleksandar, Bahl and Damyan all had moderate success with the dummy, Aleksandar even made the dummy blush and swoon. When it was Yanko's turn, however, the dummy screamed and ran to the door, trying to pull it open in order to get away from Yanko. It took ten minutes for the laughter to die down. Even Snape chuckled at what he felt was the appropriate reaction any woman should have to Yanko trying to 'charm' them.

"Move pleez! Let me show you 'ow it iz done!"

It was Veronique's turn and she confidently made three small circle with her wand while mouthing the incantation. The dummy fainted, then woke up and picked Veronique up in its arms and carried her back to her seat where it began shining her shoes. Even Cindy had a hard time calling the dummy back. The other two girls had similar success. Eloise seemed she would have as much success as Severus in the task. She nearly screamed the incantation which caused the dummy to spin around and smack its butt at Eloise while blowing a raspberry. It wasn't as bad as Yanko's but Cindy did spend a good ten minutes giving Eloise style and posture tips.

"How is how she's dressed going to help her with magic?"

"C.o.n.f.i.d.e.n.c.e! It is the special little something extra that will makes your spells much, much stronger! I would expect someone like you to better understand."

"Why because I'm pretty?"

Veronique gasped and muttered,

"'Ow can she just call 'erself dat?"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Not everyone who happens to look good is superficial. Appearance has nothing to do with magic in fact even if you don't look all that good or have a few flaws, I mean, it doesn't mean you can be great and, and even special."

Lily blushed slightly and Eloise, uncomfortable with the attention, walked hurriedly back to her seat.

"Well then let's see what you can do then!"

Lily held her head high and pushed her shoulders back and walked in front of the dummy. She made three circles with her wand but Snape did not hear her say the spell. The dummy moved so fast Snape had no time to stop it. It grabbed Lily in its arms and pressed its faceless head against Lily's as though it was kissing her. Lily squealed and tried to push it off of her. After a moment of shock Snape sent a _reducto_ so powerful at the dummy it burst open, raining fluffy, white stuffing all over the classroom.

"Eric! Nooooooooooooooooo!"

Cindy nearly burst into tears as she began grabbing bits of stuffing off the floor. Lily rolled her eyes again and repaired 'Eric' while mumbling _drama queen_ under her breath.

"You horrible boy! How could you? My poor Eric… And YOU!

She pointed a painted nail at Lily,

"How dare you? I said charm not seduce! This seminar is OVER!"

Cindy stormed out of the room with the dummy in her arms and the Beauxbatons girls followed giving Lily dirty looks. Even the Durmstrang boys seemed upset by the professor's sudden departure. Lily grabbed her bag and walked out as well, Snape followed behind her. When they were away from the crowd Lily whispered to Snape,

"What do you think she does with that dummy anyways?"

Snape couldn't help but smile. Just then a large owl smacked into Lily and dropped a letter at her feet before taking off down the hall.

"What in the world? Damn foreign owls!"

Lily shook her fist at the departing owl and then picked up the letter. It was from Alice. Snape and Lily walked into the Dining Hall and a small buzz grew as they did. Snape assumed the great dummy explosion had already reached the Beauxbatons students. Lily didn't seem to notice. She was absent-mindedly eating a croissant as she was reading the letter. Snape saw Lily's face darken as she read the letter until finally she slammed it down on the table and threw the rest of her croissant.

"What is it Lily?"

In response Lily threw the letter at Snape. He picked it up and he read it.

_Hey Lily,_

_How's France? Is Beauxbatons as __grande__ as the brochure makes it seem? Is the weather nice? It's so cold here we had a snowball fight and my cousin's eyelashes froze shut. It made him an easy target! Frank invited me to New Year's and guess what? My parents are letting me go! I guess since we'll be around a bunch of adults they think its okay. Jokes on them though, we are going to sneak off and make the most of our time together, if you know what I mean! _

_ Well, I did like you asked and sent Mary a few letters. She finally answered one a couple of days ago but she just won't budge no matter what I say. She just doesn't want to come back. I don't think it's because she feels like anyone blames her for what happened. Actually she spent most of the letter calling you rude names which I won't bother copying. I don't know what her problem is but you can't let it get to you Lils! I don't know what she's going through right now, but maybe some time away will help her. She was having trouble keeping up with the course work anyways and she always said she wanted to get married and wasn't bothered about getting her N.E.W.T.S. I think after everything that happened she doesn't feel it's worth it to come back. She doesn't seem to be taking the break up too well either and she does blame you but everyone else knows it wasn't your fault at all. _

_ Frank says most people are just curious about what happened and that's normal. I've gotten a few owls from people asking me if it's alright to owl you, they don't know if you're well yet. Fateen really wants to write, I told her it's alright so you should be getting something from her soon. Just hang in there, don't be so pessimistic, really no one thinks it's your fault, well except Mary._

_James is really worried about you so write back soon before his owl scratches me to death!_

_LOTS and LOTS of love,_

_Alice_

_P.S. Any cute guys?_

Snape re-read the letter and thought about what this meant. He knew Mary and Lily's relationship had been strained for a while and that Mary dating Potter made things worse but had their friendship been totally ruined? Snape remembered that Mary gave Lily the diary that Lord Voldemort used to possess Lily but Mary was a victim in it all as well. Snape didn't remember Lily ever blaming Mary so why was she acting out? Why was she angry with Lily? Did breaking up with Potter affect her so much that she wouldn't come back to school? Over a boy? Snape thought she was totally over-reacting, there was no reason to throw away your education because of a guy let alone the biggest loser in school. Snape looked at Lily who was angrily tearing apart another croissant. After everything that happened Lily also lost a friend because of Potter and the diary. He could understand why she was upset.

"It's alright Lily. Maybe she'll come around, who knows. Even if she doesn't come back to school I'm sure she'll cool down and be a bit more understanding."

Lily sighed and stopped tearing the croissant apart.

"I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe if I had a bit more charm."

Lily smiled and looked up at Snape who caught her gaze, but then all the embarrassment and awkwardness from that morning returned. They averted their gazes and said nothing else through dinner.

When Snape was back in his room he plopped down on his bed and ran his hands through his hair. It had been a long day and somehow just as exhausting as the day before. Snape closed his eyes and tried to picture walking through Paris with Lily. She wasn't in the greatest mood but then Snape could try and cheer her up and maybe if he succeeded, maybe just maybe.

Suddenly Snape jumped out of bed in a small panic, what would he wear?


	32. Forced into Freedom

Chapter 32: Forced into Freedom

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: The next few chapters are part of a mini story arc.

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Snape stood transfixed by panic and fear. How did things get to this point? He looked up at her, standing on the highest tower. Her tears fell with the light evening snow; they fell to the ground in front of Severus, soon followed by a few too many blood drops. Snape followed their path. The blood spatter made it seem as though the snow was blushing. Snape looked back up. There was nothing he could do, nothing he could say. Not even all the magic in the world could save her now. Her only hope was the figure running towards her and he could only watch from below and hope, hope that he wouldn't have to watch her die.

iii 8 days earlier iii

Snape woke easily but he wasn't any more refreshed. He had finally fallen asleep after hours of excited anticipation and worrying about what to wear. Today was the free day in Paris he would get to spend with Lily. He spent some extra time washing up and getting dressed, trying to look presentable. Once he felt he was decent he knocked on the door between his and Lily's room.

"One minute!"

Moments later Lily appeared with a huge smile on her face looking slightly out of breath.

"Just finished marking everything on the map. I know, I should have done it weeks ago but I kept changing my mind about where we're going to go."

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Where we're going? Don't I have some sort of say in this?"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Okay Severus, where do you want to go?"

Snape didn't know what to say, It wasn't so much that he had anywhere in particular he wanted to go, just that she should have asked. He said the first thing that came to mind.

"The… Eiffel Tower."

"It's on my list. In fact I have it twice; once during the day and once at night. Anything else?"

"Well, still, you should have asked, I might have wanted to do something."

"Alright tell me what then. We can change the plans but knowing you, you don't actually want to go anywhere. Remember the time we went to the cottage and all you brought was your school books? No bathing suit, no fishing rod, no sleeping bag, nothing!"

Snape remember it very clearly. Lily had insisted that he come on the family camping trip and only consented to spend that much time in Petunia's company because of the promise of seeing Lily in a bathing suit, he never expected to have to wear one himself. And in the end he didn't because it rained the whole time they were there. Thinking back on this memory made him realize that since then he had seen Lily in a bikini and she had seen his body bare except where a bathing suit would cover it when he came out of the shower the day before. He blushed slightly at the memory.

"Hello? Earth to Severus Snape!"

"Sorry, yes… well I'll let it go this time and we'll do what you have planned."

"Well thank you for your forgiveness, your extreme altitude."

"That was an awful joke Lily."

"Shut up."

Lily smiled that disarming smile of hers and skipped out of the room. Snape's feet followed her on their own.

They made their way to the Headmistress' office where the other winners were already assembled. Eloise gave Lily a small smile.

"Are you going by yourself?"

Elosie nodded yes.

"Well that's no fun. I mean you must have seen most of Paris already seeing you live so close."

Eloise just shrugged and placed her finger on what appeared to be a wooden leg and what Snape assumed would serve as their Portkey.

"Ze curfew iz at midnight sharp yes? Zat iz ze last Portkey back 'ere."

Everyone nodded in understanding and the four Durmstrang boys along with Lily, Snape and Eloise all prepared themselves. Snape felt that tug behind his bellybutton and soon he and his companions were racing through a blur of space. They all landed easily and as soon as their feet touched the ground Aleksandar walked over to Lily.

"Hey, Lily, how about you ditch the gargoyle and hang with us instead?"

Lily rolled her eyes and said,

"Sorry but we're on a very tight schedule! Come on Sev."

Lily walked briskly out of the sidestreet on which they had landed and into the bright morning sun. Snape followed not knowing where they were or where they were going but saw that there were two little cartoon people marching with purpose on the map Lily was holding in front of her.

"Won't the muggles notice the moving pictures on your map Lily?"

Snape whispered.

"Muggles? Don't see nothing do they? Now keep up. We have a very busy day. Now I know you're probably not all that interested in museums but we have to at least see the Mona Lisa. Then it's all major monuments and almost no shopping whatsoever."

"Sounds good but don't you want to go shopping?"

"I've been to Paris before and I spent it eating on the go, taking pictures in front of things and staring pensively at paintings and sculptures for as long as I felt it would take for people to believe I had any clue what I was looking at. It was boring and I felt rushed but I also felt like I had to get that stuff out of the way. This time I intend to sit and eat overpriced food for an entire hour at a tourist trap, window shop leisurely while going from nowhere to anywhere and most importantly, take as many pictures with you as possible until you begin ducking behind things. And so our first stop is the Louvre for a quick peek at Mona's mischievous smile!"

Snape and Lily ended up spending an hour and a half in the Louvre, mostly avoiding each other's eyes in order to keep from giggling at every naked sculpture and painting. Then a walk down the Champs Elysee, a trip up the Eiffel Tower and a picnic lunch on the Champ de Mars. After lunch, it was a quick photo-op at the Palais de Chaillot.

As much as this wasn't Snape idea of fun, he had to admit Lily had made the day fairly decent and she was in a great mood, pointing out random buildings, smiling at nothing and twirling around everytime the sun came out from behind a cloud. Muggle clothing was immensely more interesting than long, concealing wizard robes. Everytime Lily spun in her pale gold dress, an indecent amount of her thighs were exposed and Snape was torn between staring and shielding her from the eyes of passer-bys. Severus was bundled in several layers of sweaters and while Lily's top half looked similar, Snape couldn't understand how she wasn't frozen from the waist down. They had walked by a few girls wearing less and assumed women had some mysterious source of warmth men did not.

Snape took every opportunity to snap photos of Lily on the enchanted camera she brought but she insisted Snape use the muggle camera on the streets since it didn't produce a vast cloud of purple smoke and was therefore less conspicuous.

"Lily what is that symbol? Is it the sign of Paris?"

The pair was strolling through the, so far snow free, gardens of Luxemburg.

"What symbol Sev?"

"That one on the mini Statue of Liberty, I've seen it everywhere; at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, even in the Academy of Music."

Lily bent down to observe the marking; it was a triangle with a circle and line in it.

"Humm, I'm not sure to be honest. I've never seen it before but maybe I just wasn't really paying attention. Hang on."

Lily walked over to someone who was tending to a hedge. Snape saw the man look quizzingly at Lily and then he put down his shears and followed Lily back to the statue. Lily pointed to the marking.

"Sacre Bleu! Qui a dessine sur la Statue de la Liberté? Dieu!"

Lily also looked shocked.

"You said you saw this everywhere? Gosh, it must be the tag of some street gang or maybe just kids, but honestly it's a bit much to do this to famous landmarks."

Snape just shrugged, guess every country had its assholes. He forgot the whole incident but when they were dodging bicycles at the Place de Concorde Snape saw the symbol again but this time its didn't look like it had been painted or scorched on like everywhere else, it looked as though it had been carved into the Obelisk itself.

"Lily look at this! Honestly defacing property is kids' stuff, but this probably diminishes the value of this whole artifact."

"How? How in the world did someone manage to carve this into the Obelisk without someone noticing? I mean the edges are so clean you'd think it belonged here."

Snape bend closer to have a better look.

"You know what, I think it does belong here. What if this wasn't another example of vandalism but the inspiration for all the others?"

"Could be, but what does it mean?"

"No clue. Anyways let's not worry about it. We can ask someone back at the school."

"You're right and goodness look at the time! We have to get the Arc de Triomphe in before supper!"

And again the matter was forgotten among promises of a candlelit dinner in Lily's company.

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"Isn't this nicer than running around in the freezing cold?"

"It-t-t wasn't-t-t-t t-t-t-too bad unt-t-t-til t-t-t-the sun set-t-t-t."

"Your chattering sort of negates what you're saying. Why didn't you at least wear stockings?"

"It-t-t would have ruined t-t-the look of t-t-the dress."

"Gosh like that matters at all. Here, put your hands over the candle, it'll warm you up faster."

Just then the waiter came over and looked at Snape holding Lily's hands over the candle.

"Per'aps I can suggest ze lover's special? Yes?"

Lily retracted her hands quickly from Snape's and looked a bit embarrassed which would perhaps be why she responded to the waiter rather abruptly.

"Non, merci. Juste du thé et le soupe du jour pour commencer et après la bouillabaisse pour moi et le coq au vin pour lui."

The waiter coughed and walked away. Lily made a face at him as he walked away then giggled. She promptly returned her hands to the candle and rubbed them together.

"I think I'm starting to get the feeling back in them. Oh! Isn't that Eloise?"

Snape swiveled in his chair and saw, sitting alone in a booth, was Eloise. She was poking, unenthusiastically at what looked like a pudding. She called over the same waiter who had just taken Lily and Snape's order and he left only to quickly return with the bill. Eloise paid and was making her way out when Lily waved her over.

"Oh, 'ello."

"Eloise! It's too bad you finished, we could have eaten together."

"No no, it iz alright. I will go now. Enjoy."

Eloise gave a little bow before rushing out.

"I feel bad for her, all alone in Paris where's she's likely been plenty of times before… not much of a reward for her. And it doesn't seem like anyone in that school looks up to her or is glad she won. Must be awful."

Snape gave a noncommittal grunt and nodded. Elosie's issues hardly concerned him and he was glad she wasn't around to ruin the mood of their dinner.

"By the way Sev, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"What's that?"

They were briefly interrupted by the arrival of their soup, French onion.

"Well first of all it's the house we won. Once we turn 17 and become of age the protection Dumbledore put on it will break so we need to put our own up but I don't even know what we need to do really. I think we should talk to someone about it. I'm not even sure if it'll happen when just you or both of us come of age, because you come of age soon and we won't even be there to take care of anything."

"Don't worry about it Lily, I'll take care of it. It's in Hogsmeade anyways, so we don't really have to worry about muggles and we don't have anything in there. I'll send a few owls about it."

"Great that's one thing down and now the other. You remember the letter Alice sent, you know about Mary."

"You're not still hung up on that are you?"

"Well no, I mean a bit but that's not what this is about. It's about, well that Basilisk was Slytherin's and well, won't your housemates, you know, be bothered by what you did?"

"I'm sure Potter's already taken credit for it. Besides I didn't have much of a choice did I?"

"Well, I just, I'm just worried about you, is all. It's all my fault anyways."

Snape's heart skipped a beat when he heard Lily say she was worried about him. He took this opportunity to reach out across the table and clasped Lily's still chilly hands into his own.

"Everything is going to be fine. I promise. There isn't a thing you need to worry about."

Snape gave Lily's hand a reassuring squeeze and he looked into her eyes. Lily smiled back and dinner was just about perfect.

iiiiiiiiiii

"That was really nice Sev, it was just like that night we spent in London. Remember?"

Oh, he certainly remembered. It was the day he found the perfect gift for Lily, and the day…

"What's wrong?"

Snape had stopped in the middle of the street. He and Lily were strolling near the Eiffel Tower for one last look before heading back to the portkey.

"Sev, are you okay?"

Snape was getting that weird tingly feeling again, like they were being watched, the same one he got that night. Could Mary have followed them all this way? She, can't be so upset about her and Potter breaking up. Lily was looking at him with eyes full of concern so he tried to shake it off .

"Nevermind, maybe I'm just being paranoid. Let's go."

Lily didn't seem too reassured but she wrapped Snape's jacket, which he chivalrously lent her, closer to her body and linked her arms around Snape's. Whatever Mary may have been up to then, it couldn't possibly affect them now, so he let it go and it was momentarily forgotten.

After another hour of walking Lily could no longer tolerate the cold and so they headed back towards the portkey using Lily's enchanted map as guide. Snape found it highly amusing that the mini cartoon Lily was shivering just as much as the real life Lily was beside him. The mini Snape almost looked like he was smiling and Snape instantly thought _stop that, I am NOT smiling_.

"Oh the street is just right up here. Thank goodness, I think I'd get frostbite if we were out here much longer."

Lily laughed but it soon turned into coughing.

"Oh gosh I hope I'm not getting sick."

"That's pretty much a given isn't it? I'm sure the nurse at Beauxbatons has plenty of Pepper Up Potion."

Lily and Snape had just turned into the alleyway from where the last portkey would soon be leaving when Snape felt something knock him from the side and press him roughly against the wall.

"Stupefy!"

Lily hit whoever had tackled Snape and pushed him off of Snape. It was Yanko.

"Hang on! Hang on! Stop! Sorry, sorry."

Aleksander, Damyan and Bahlmoore emerged from the shadows of the sidestreet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Lily seemed extremely upset and she and Snape both had their wands out and pointed at the three boys.

"It's all a misunderstanding, we thought you were someone else."

Aleksander reversed the _stupefy_ and Yanko slowly got up off the floor.

"Who else would you be expecting to come through here, at this hour, right before the portkey leaves?"

"Well, ah don't worry about it. It's been a long day."

Snape lit his wand and aimed the light towards the boys. Aleksandar and Damyan were both sporting bruises and a fair few enchanted wounds. Bahlmoore was holding his side, wincing and was spitting blood every now and then.

"What in the world happened to you lot? You haven't been dueling in front of muggles have you?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head; the Statute of Secrecy is still in full effect. Now come on the portkey will be leaving in about 5 minutes."

"Don't worry? You're all bleeding and bruised. First thing as soon as we get back you all head over to the nurses' ward."

"Second thing maybe. Worried about me love? You don't look so hot yourself."

Bahl smiled, revealing revolting blood-stained teeth.

"Yes, haha very funny."

Snape hadn't said anything, but he wondered if that strange feeling he had had all day had anything to do with whoever attacked the Durmstrang boys. Lily was still frowning but it seemed the adrenaline had worn off and she was feeling the cold again and felt the nagging could wait until they were all back in the warmth of the castle. The portkey left exactly at midnight and as soon as they had all arrived in the Headmistresses' office, Damyan said,

"Seems one of our group missed the curfew."

"No, you are all back and Eloise arrived shortly before. You may all go to… Dieu! What 'as 'appened?"

"She got here before us? There was another portkey?"

"Well she does not need a portkey, it is 'er school. Mais what 'as 'appened to you all? To ze 'ealer! Vite!"

The Durmstrang boys and Lily went to the healer and Snape tagged along. The boys were exchanging dark looks and Lily looked up at Snape quizzingly as well. Snape wanted to linger and eavesdrop to try and figure out what had prompted the boys to attack them but Lily was quickly administered some Pepper Up Potion and asked to leave while the healer took care of the boys.

"Well what in the world do you think that was all about?"

"No clue Lily, but I have a bad feeling about it."

"More paranoia I see…"

"Better paranoid than vulnerable.

Lily laughed and said,

"That is so something you would say. You should make it your catchphrase."

"My what?"

The pair had reached Lily's door.

"Nevermind. So how was today? Bearable?"

"Yes, in fact I think I had a better time than you did."

"No I enjoyed myself as well. Sure it was a bit cold but only later on. The things we women do for beauty…"

"Really Lily, you don't have to try so hard to look good, you pretty much do all the time anyways."

Lily blushed slightly but Snape couldn't have been altogether certain it wasn't the lingering cold that kept the colour in her cheeks.

"Really?"

"Uhh… yes really. Well goodnight then."

"Night Sev. See you tomorrow."

Lily turned and went into her room and Snape walked over to his door but again that prickly feeling on the back of his neck resurfaced. He looked up and down the hall but saw no one and heard nothing. And yet, Snape rushed into his room and sealed the door magically, just in case.


	33. Secret Remedy

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Chapter 33: Secret Remedy

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: The dreams are all a continuation of each other so if you would like, go back and read them all at once if you are confused. Also if you have specific question please feel free to add them to your review or PM me =)

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape was shaken awake by something heavy falling next to him on his bed. He woke suddenly and frantically looked around for the intruder.

"Sevvie…" *sniff*

"Wa? What? Lily?"

Lily was laying face up on Snape's bed looking miserable.

"Sev, I'm sick."

Snape sighed and scooted over to Lily and put his hand on her forehead.

"You do have a temperature. You did drink the Pepper Up potion yesterday didn't you?"

"You were in the room with me. Do you think I hid it somewhere for fun? Stupid French potions don't work! Should have just asked you to make me something. This is probably sabotage anyways, keeping me sick so we can't do well at the potions seminar today."

"Now who's paranoid? Get up, I'll make you something but we haven't much time so it won't be too strong. Why didn't you just wear trousers like normal people Lily? It's the middle of winter!"

"Beginning of winter technically and I wanted to be pretty! Everyone else was dressed so nicely, I didn't want to stick out like an unfashionable English bumpkin! Now make me that potion before I sneeze on you."

"Ew, and get your germ infested self out of my bed."

"No."

"Get off."

"What's the magic word?"

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

"Oi, put me down you psycho!"

"_Locomotor Lily!"_

Snape sent Lily's now floating form flying through the door connecting their rooms.

"Ahhhh! Seeeeeeeeeeev!"

*crash*

"You shall pay!"

Came Lily's threatening voice from her room. Snape smirked, he'd always wanted to do that.

iiiiiiiiiii

Lily hardly ate anything for breakfast as she was still feeling crummy and while she was in a terrible mood Snape couldn't help but fawn over how cute she was. Snape loved it when Lily was sick, she was totally reliant on him and constantly told him he was the only person who could make her feel better. She thought he was in control but in reality, whenever sick Lily gave Snape those puppy eyes and pouted her lips, he'd go to the ends of the world to make her feel better. Snape looked over at her and smiled as she grumpily stirred the rice porridge in her bowl and wrapped her cloak closer to her body for warmth. It looked to be a stubborn cold; it might need a few doses of the weak potion Snape managed to whip up before they went downstairs. Perhaps he could make a stronger batch during their potions seminar.

Snape and an ill-tempered Lily once again made their way into the seminar classroom which was now set up with several cauldrons and a table laden with all sort of potions ingredients. Lily and Snape each sat behind a cauldron and waited for the classroom to fill up. The Beauxbatons girls looked their usual selves but Eloise seemed equally as grumpy as Lily although she didn't usually look too happy and the Durmstrang boys were slightly less bruised and cut up but also seemed to be in a foul mood. All the sullen faces created a gloom in the room.

After 20 minutes of waiting an old toothless wizard hobbled into the room hunched over and pushing a cart on which four different cauldrons were precariously placed.

"Sorry for the wait everyone, had to be careful getting these over here you know. So allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Locus and I will be presenting you with some potions which I'm almost certain you have never seen before."

This piqued Snape's interest; what could these be? Were they potions of his own creation or extremely rare and difficult to make? The wizard slowly moved the cauldrons to the table on which a plethora of potions ingredients were sitting; it took the feeble old man a while to do this but all the while every eye in the classroom followed his motions with anxiety.

"Now I would like all of you to come up and have a look at these potions. You may not touch the potions or use them on anything but you maybe smell, observe, stir. Try to see if you can figure out what these potions might do or what they are."

Snape rushed over to the table not helping Lily get up, who was grumbling,

"This isn't fair I can't smell anything with my nose stuffed!"

Snape prodded the potions, stirred them, smelled them but he could not figure out what they were. He could make out a few ingredients but not enough to be certain of anything. He was mildly impressed with the potioneer but much more curious as to what these potions did. Everyone else looked just as perplexed as Snape and slowly they gave up and went back to their seats.

"No clue? Well that's alright. I'm going to reveal the ingredients, perhaps that will help."

Professor Locus waved his wand and four large pieces of parchment unraveled and floated in midair. On them lists of ingredients were written. Snape noted that two of the potions were made out of fairly expensive ingredients. One of them at least was transformative.

"Anyone have any guesses now?"

Snape raised his hand.

"That last one is transformative in nature."

"Ah yes indeed, perhaps the combination of leeches and insect parts gave it away?"

"Yes sir."

"Very good, very good and your name is…?"

"Severus Snape."

"Well Mr. Snape any guesses on what this transforms?"

Severus shook his head no.

"Well allow me to demonstrate then."

Professor Locus took a gold coin out of his pocket and used a glass dropper to take some potion out of the last cauldron and dripped the potion onto the gold coin. A great deal of steam was created and when it disappeared everyone saw that the coin had gone brown and limp. Lily coughed and then said,

"So it turns gold into leather?"

Professor Locus nodded yes and everyone in the classroom made shocked and confused sounds.

"What use is a potion that turns gold into leather, I mean not only are you losing value in the object but the potion itself is fairly costly."

Yanko had objected but Professor Locus did not look angry or surprised.

"Ah yes my dear boy that is the imperative word: use. This potion is on the list of useless potions, all these potions are."

"Well excuse me for being impolite but what iz dee use of showing us useless potions?"

Veronique protested from the back of the room.

"Ah yes, a great question, one I have been plagued by all my life. You see I have devoted myself to making use of useless potions. These potions have been deemed useless because they did not do what they were originally intended for but that does not mean they have no use in other fields. For example this potion was a stepping stone, if you will, in alchemy and in the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. Nicolas Flamel was attempting to create a potion that would turn leather into gold, he assumed that if he could find a potion that turned gold into leather he could reverse the potion and then the effects would also be reversed. Unfortunately that was not the case and this potion was forgotten until I began working with it."

"So what else doz eet do?"

"It cures lactose intolerance."

"Really? Wow. I mean muggles have pills that help control lactose intolerance but a cure, is it a onetime dose or..?"

Lily seemed genuinely interested.

"From my tests it seems there is a need to take another dose every 5 years or so, depending on the person. Children need more frequent doses."

"Well not many wizards 'ave zis problem."

"No, that is true but still, I am petitioning to remove this potion from the Useless Potions List."

"Why did you spend your life trying to cut short the Useless Potions List? I mean they could really be useless. Isn't it easier to make your own new potions?"

"Ah young man, I do not pretend to consider myself greater than Nicolas Flamel or Merlin or Max Fidnnes III. These potions were often made by great men and did amazing things just not what the makers expected. I believe each of these potions have great potential just waiting to be discovered. And that is what we shall do today. Discover. I want each of you to test these potions and note any peculiar reactions, now not on yourselves. I have brought different materials and objects for you to use. I must stress that you do not drink anything! Except I suppose this one, if you are lactose intolerant…"

Professor Locus moved each of the remaining three potions in front of a different group of students and explained what they were each known to do, what made them useless.

"To Beauxbatons this blue potion which reveals stains that have been removed temporarily."

"So after you 'ave removed a stain it is back? Useless indeed."

"Terrible attitude from a champion."

"They are not the winners, I am. I will try my best Professor."

"Very good. Now to Durmstrang this yellow potion changes one's taste buds when consumed. Everything tastes like wallpaper paste. Well at least it does to me, others have reported other tastes but never anything good."

The boys grimaced and started taking potion out of the cauldron using their glass droppers.

"And finally to Hogwarts, this grey potion which makes your blood flow to your head, as though you are upside down and when you are upside down you feel normal."

"Well if Snape ever decides to go all the way and officially becomes a bat it could come in handy."

Yanko snickered and the Beauxbaton girls joined him. Lily stuck out her tongue at them and tried to smile at Professor Locus but Snape could tell she was discouraged. When Professor Locus was out of earshot Veronique said to the Durmstrang boys,

"Maybe ze British muggles can use zis to make zer food taste better."

"Ha ha you're so funny. Can't taste any worse than being a l.o.s.e.r. Or have you forgotten what Eloise reminded you of already? You aren't here as a champion."

Veronique's face went red and Lily briskly turned away.

"Okay, might as well have a go. Severus, pass me that cork."

Lily dripped some of the potion onto the cork and as soon as she did the cork began to vibrate violently. It shook more vigorously so that Lily was now shaking as well. It continued for several seconds before Lily managed to drop the cork and it stopped vibrating.

"Lily are you alright?"

"Uh… I think so."

"Why… What's your eye doing?"

"I don't know it won't stop twitching."

Lily slapped her hand over her eye to try and stop the twitching but it wouldn't.

"So, would you classify this as peculiar? I mean it's weird but I don't know… do we need a potion that makes cork vibrate?"

"I don't know let's ask the Professor."

Snape and Lily turned towards Professor Locus to ask him what he thought but they saw that he was fast asleep at the front of the class.

"Oh, honestly now!"

"Maybe he was up all night making these?"

"Doubt it Severus. I think he's taking the mickey out of us."

"Why don't we skip out early and have a little fun huh Lily?"

Bahl had stealthily made his way over to their table, startling Lily.

"Bahl, I will kill you in your sleep."

"Aww, is someone sicky? You sound so cute with your nose all stuffed up. Want a hug sweetie?"

"In. your. sleep."

"Ow. I like an aggressive streak in a girl."

"How about a wand up your arse?"

"Easy greaseball. But if you're serious I'll take you on; any time and any day."

"Please, the four of you can't even handle one guy. I saw you all bruised and bloody and if you hadn't attacked us by surprise none of you would have an arse for me to threaten."

"Fine, whatever. I'll just take some of this."

Bahlmoore took a dropper out of his pocket and took some of the potion Lily and Snape were testing.

"Oi, what are you doing with that?"

Bahl didn't answer but went straight back to his table and deposited the potion into a goblet. Lily went over and Snape followed. As he did he saw that Bahl had added their potion into another black potion, once their potion was added the mixture turned green, the same green as Lily's eyes and it glowed like a neon light. As Lily looked down at the potion with fearful eyes, her eyes also glowed and for a moment the two were indistinguishable from one another. She asked in a whisper,

"What is that?"

"We mixed all three potions. Yanko's going to drink it and see what happens."

"Have you gone mad? It could be lethal for all you know!"

"That's why it's a risk sweetie."

"What is going on here!?"

It seemed while everyone was crowded around the Durmstrang table, Professor Locus had woken. He grabbed the cup from Bahl and looked down at the green potion.

"What is this? What have you made?"

"We… we sort of mixed the three potions together.."

"You what? Why? And why did you use a goblet and not a cauldron?"

"We were going to test it."

"Test it?"

Yanko mimicked someone drinking with his hand and the professor gasped.

"Have you entirely taken leave of your senses? You thought it would be a good idea to mix three potions of unknown qualities and then drink the mixture despite the high likelihood that it could severely injure or kill you?"

The Durmstrang boys nodded yes.

"Well it seems you perhaps won your school's Hunt due to a mixture of sheer luck and stupidity and not any brilliance of any kind. Foolish boys! I will be speaking to your headmaster about this."

The professor waved his wand and tapped the goblet containing the potion but nothing happened. He repeated this motion several times and then others but nothing happened.

"How very, very odd. I cannot remove this potion from the goblet no matter how I try. Odd, very, very odd."

And thus Professor Locus went on muttering as he walked out of the room. He turned back only to wave his wand once more and everything he had brought into the classroom; the cauldrons, the ingredients, the potions, all disappeared.

Everyone remained still in stunned silence for several minutes until… Lily sneezed. It was as though all their unvoiced thoughts were broken and everyone moved to gather their things and leave for lunch.

Just as Lily and Snape were about to leave, Eloise tapped Lily on the shoulder.

"Here you go. It is for your cold. The nurse here is terrible, she only got the job because she is cousins with the High Minister. Well bye."

Eloise handed Lily a potion bottle which was marked with 6 dose lines along it and walked away. Snape uncorked the bottle and smelled to potion.

"Now that is a well made potion. Saves me the trouble of making any."

Lily also smelled the potion then replaced the cork and they went out for lunch.

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"Honestly Lily, it was sort of your fault."

"How exactly?"

"The professor said not to startle the plants, they are easily frightened."

"How am I supposed to suppress my coughing and sneezing? I told you this was sabotage!"

"Come now, it wasn't too bad, so it jumped on you head. But wow, shape shifting plants, never seen most of them."

"Well that's sort of the point, it's why they shift shapes moron."

"Don't take out your grumpiness on me Lily or I won't make you any rice pudding!"

Lily, who had been angrily striding ahead of Snape, stopped and turned around. She gave Snape that look and pouted her lips and slouched her shoulders and said,

"But it's my favorite when I'm sick… Seeeev… pweez?"

"Fine but stop complaining."

Lily muttered something under her breath but said nothing else about their after lunch seminar on shape shifting plants in the greenhouses. She did however, make a point of flicking the twigs she pulled out of her hair at Snape during dinner.

As they were heading up to their rooms, with Lily happily full of creamy rice pudding, they found the hall to be jam packed with the students who had stayed during the winter holidays.

"I wonder what the holdup is?"

Lily shrugged but they weren't kept curious for long. A few minutes later they saw Professor Locus being carried down the hall on a stretcher. He was screaming and flailing although he was being magically restrained. His face was pale and he was sweating profusely. As he passed people began to whisper and several students wore frightened and shocked expressions. As Lily and Snape walked forward, now that the crowd was easing, they saw Eloise standing still.

"Elosie! What in the world happened to Professor Locus? Is he alright?"

"I don't know. They said that someone heard yelling coming from his room and they found him on the floor screaming in pain. They are taking him to the magic hospital in Paris. I'm sure it isn't anything serious, but then again he is fairly old."

"Maybe he was experimenting with his potions and something went wrong."

Snape suggested but this seemed to further distress Lily who bit her lip and looked as though her dinner might be coming back up.

"Are you alright Lily? Is your fever coming back?"

Snape asked in concern and placed his hand on Lily's forehead. Lily shook his hand away.

"No. I'm fine."

"You are taking the potion I gave you… yes?"

"Oh yes I am Eloise thank you. It's just taking a while I suppose."

Lily smiled weakly and walked away. Eloise gave Snape a questioning look but he just shrugged in response and followed Lily. When they got to their rooms Lily said she just wanted to get some sleep but first asked Snape to enlarge all her stuffed animals so she could cuddle with them as she slept. Snape smiled widely as he watched Lily arranged herself among her mountain of stuffed animals, she looked just like she did when she was little. He couldn't help but be jealous of those stuffed toys who got to hold her as she slept but he knew Lily wanted her space while she was sick. He made sure Lily took another dose of Eloise's potion before leaving. He turned off the lights magically and silently closed the door between their rooms. As he got into bed he noted how empty it looked and felt compared to Lily's, warm, plush, happy bed. Snape wondered if there would ever be a way for their worlds to collide and wordlessly thanked George Lattimer for whatever he did.

As he slept Snape was once again afflicted by a strangely familiar dream.

_The rain was coming down in torrents now and the humidity in the air was stifling. The combination of rain and humidity made it difficult for Snape to breathe and it felt as though he was walking through a meter of mud. He was still reaching out for the little cocoon on the ground. He was so very close to it, his fingertips grazed its surface, but before he could clasp it in his hands a flash flood swept towards him and it washed the cocoon away. The wall of water hit him and nearly toppled him over but he refused to go down and drown. He watched the cocoon float away gave into the current. It now also carried him away and he swam forward trying to catch up to the cocoon, he had to get it back, he had to keep it in sight or else it would be lost forever._

Snape woke the next morning flailing his arms and legs and drenched in sweat. The only thing he remembered was the last thing he saw in his dream: a small thin object, like an arm, hanging outside the crack in the cocoon, as though it was reaching out for him and begging for help.


	34. Cold Comfort

Chapter 34: Cold Comfort

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **pureangel86** wow, you sure got through the story quickly! I'm glad you liked it and hope you didn't hurt your eyes staring at the computer screen! Also as I said before there have been several dream sequences in the past chapters and they all connect and start where the previous dream ended. I'm so excited for you guys to read the entire mini story arc and let me know what you think.

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"Finally! It's the last day of seminars! I just hope I get over this cold quickly so I can go to the Jeux D'Hiver."

"As long as you wear plenty of layers this time."

Lily and Snape were walking out of the Dining Hall and walking towards the seminar room.

"Oh I most certainly will. Last thing I want is to spend Christmas sick."

"Well, even though it was more work than I anticipated, at least we learned a lot from these seminars. What do we have today?"

"Runes and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Well should be a breeze, unless we get another weirdo."

Lily laughed and followed Snape into the seminar classroom. As soon as the door opened Lily's laughter faded into silence. The seminar room had been transformed completely. The room was dimly lit, the only sources of light were little red bulbs that seems to be floating in midair haphazardly throughout the room, bobbing up and down as though controlled by a metronome. It was an eerie sort of atmosphere and as the door swung shut behind the pair, a large curtain was observed inside the room, cutting the room in two. Lily and Snape walked to the front of the room which was left undivided and were startled when a shadow moved in front of them.

"Welcome."

Snape's eyes were adjusting to the dark and saw that the Durmstrang boys were already in the room sitting on one side of the curtain looking rather uncomfortable. Snape turned back towards the woman who had address him and saw that her eyes were yellow and much like a cat's and that her skin was ghostly white. He could not make out her hair nor her body as both her clothing and hair seemed to be the same shade of darkness as the room. The woman motioned for Snape to join the Durmstrang boys and he moved and sat in an empty chair while Lily was instructed to sit on the other side of the curtain.

"Oh! Sorry."

Snape heard Lily say. Although he could no longer see her, he knew her voice well.

"It iz alright."

It seemed Eloise was already here as well. When the other Beauxbatons girls finally arrived a few minutes later the woman addressed them as a whole.

"Today we will experiment with a somewhat controversial branch of runes; body runes."

There was a gasp of shock from, who Snape assumed, were the Beauxbatons girls.

"Zis iz outrajeous, you cannot force us to do zis! Come on, we are leaving! Tout suite!"

Snape heard the Beauxbatons girls stomp out, muttering what he assumed were French profanities under their breaths. When the door closed the woman continued.

"As I said, they are controversial and I am well aware of that so anyone else who does not wish to participate may leave now. Well? No one else? Very well then allow me to explain what we will be doing today."

The woman waved her wand and two trolleys with little jars and paintbrushes of various sizes on them rolled in front of her.

"Body runes have been used by various cultures and civilization throughout the centuries for many purposes. Now largely believed to be the realm of superstition by muggles, body runes have very real magical origins. That said, the wand has taken over as the primary medium of magic and as such body runes have both gone out of fashion and have become somewhat taboo not just because of the inconsistency of their results but also the sensuality with which they have been largely associated. Of course this is due more to racist colonial perceptions of the people who used body runes as less civilized and therefore more lustful and sexually ambivalent and Victorian ideas about propriety. Nevertheless I have agreed to separate you by gender during this experiment in order to avoid the type of protestations you just witnessed from your classmates."

The woman rolled a trolley to each side of the curtain with a flick of her wand.

"Body runes were primarily used in medicine to avoid and cure diseases and injuries as well in treating infertility and other… associated problems. "

The Durmstrang boys snickered as she said this.

"However, they can be used for a variety of other things including ridding one of fear or sadness, inducing dreamless sleep and other mental afflictions. As I said before, many prefer the use of potions and spells but in the absence of potions and the loss of your wand, runes can become useful."

"But can't they also do nothing, or worse go horribly wrong?"

Snape recognized Lily's voice and saw the woman turn towards the other side of the curtain.

"Yes, yes that is very true. In body runes the person applying the runes; their intentions, feelings and state of mind can heavily impact the effectiveness of a body rune. Unfortunately, body runes applied onto one's self are useless, another person must paint, draw, engrave, burn or otherwise apply the runes onto you and you are thus somewhat at their mercy. Often a village would have a practitioner of body runes who focused on medicine and was highly trained in the application of body runes and disastrous consequences were rare. Still, for your safety, you will be limited to a set of runes which have no history of becoming potentially damaging, anyways I highly doubt you would have been exposed to any complex body rune formations here in Western Europe, perhaps the Durmstrang students have seen one or two."

The woman now turned to Snape's side of the curtain.

"I will thus ask you do not put your own friends at risk by trying anything new today, yes?"

The four nodded in grave understanding.

"Good. So now, you will use this ink to paint a rune on your partner. This ink is only visible in the dark and was used at night by practitioners, often for temporary relief of pain or bad dreams. The effect of the rune, if applied correctly will only last for a maximum of 12 hours. The runes you can chose from are runes of empowerment, comfort and relief. They have little potential for negative consequences unless terribly overused. Pick the body part which is either afflicted or related to your rune, keep the chakras in mind please."

Snape saw the Durmstrang boys get up, grab a few jars and move to the back of the room, he also heard footsteps on the other side of the curtain and assumed Lily and Eloise were working together. Snape had no desire to be painted on but he grabbed a jar and moved away from the front so it looked like he was doing something. He assumed the woman could not see him in the dark anyways. Snape heard Lily's voice on the other side of the curtain and followed it until he was beside her on the other side.

"So what do you have in mind?"

"Oh just something zimple, I zink. Humm… okay, I 'ave one, but zis goes on ze back I zink, take your shirt off and turn around pleaze."

Snape blushed at the image that formed in his mind of Lily undressing in the dim light.

"Oh! It's cold."

"Sorry Lily."

Snape bit his lip.

_Think of something else, anything but that, uhhh… something I hate… Potter! Dust bunnies!_

But it was no use. Snape's mind would continuously drift to an image of Lily's bare back glowing in the red light, a thick paintbrush running down the curve of her spine, goosebumps forming in its wake. Snape was trapped in this fantasy for a good while and heard little else except snippits of Eloise and Lily's conversation which seemed to purposefully entice him.

"All alone?"

Snape jumped in his seat. He had not noticed the woman approach him.

"This is the, you…you shouldn't be on this side of the curtain."

"Why? Everyone is dressed again. Why did you not participate?"

"Like I was going to let one of those Durmstrang idiots mess with me."

"Were you the sole winner of the Hunt in your school?"

"No, Lily and I are both from Hogwarts."

"Ah, but she is a girl so you were separated from your partner, I see. This is a predicament."

"Sev, I can do one for you if you want."

It was Lily, from the other side of the curtain. Snape had placed himself close to hear her but had forgotten that she could therefore also hear him and his conversation.

"It's alright Lily."

"But it doesn't seem fair, you should get a chance to practice."

"I don't know if I could allow that."

Snape heard footsteps and then saw Lily coming towards him.

"Oh it's alright. Not only have Snape and I known each other since we were little, we'll paint one on each other's forearms, that couldn't pose any problems."

The woman cocked her head but made no protest, she simply walked away.

Snape heard Lily drag a chair over and sat down in front of him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he saw Lily's face illuminated in front of him. Her hair glowed deep red in the light, as did her lips and her skin looked flush and warm. She looked at him and he averted his eyes. She sat there looking at him for what felt like forever before she unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt sleeve and pushed it up, revealing his forearm. Something was making him extra sensitive to touch and when she first pressed the cold, wet paintbrush tip onto his skin Snape felt himself shutter slightly. Lily seemed to notice this and hesitated for a moment before continuing. Her strokes were slow but certain and Snape felt a slight tingling sensation as the ink absorbed into his skin. As Lily finished the rune Snape looked down and couldn't seem to recognize it. Whatever it was, it was making Snape both sleepy and warm. He blinked several times quickly to rid himself of the sleepiness and picked up a paintbrush. He pushed up Lily's sleeve and started drawing one of the runes. He wasn't exactly sure which one he was painting or why but it seemed like the right thing to do. When he finished he saw Lily smile and he smiled back at her.

Then suddenly the lights came on. It was a searing pain that hit his eyes and then his brain. When he could make out shapes again he saw Lily squinting, her pupils had gone from dilated to pinpricks. Snape looked down at his forearm and saw nothing there, he remembered then that the ink was only visible in the dark.

"Thank you to all of you for participating, this experiment has been most… enlightening."

The woman smiled a little too widely as she said the last word and then left the room, disappeared, without so much as another word or sound.

"Severus, do you remember her name?"

"Hum? Name? Uhh… did she tell us her name?"

No one took any notice of Lily's question, still blinded, Yanko had just walked into a wall.

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"Afternoon, afternoon! No need to run or rush, you might trip!"

All the winners of the Hunt had spent lunch recovering their vision in a strangely empty Dining Hall; all the Beauxbatons students had gone home or to Paris for the Jeux D'Hiver after breakfast including the girls who had joined them for their seminars. Tomorrow the winners would be leaving for Paris leaving only a handful of students in the castle who were not joining their families for the holidays. It was the very last seminar and Snape was both excited to see what defensive training they would receive and relieved it was finally over and he could relax a bit.

"Hello students, my name is Professor Allicoom and I will be teaching you the most important and effective method of defense against the dark arts!"

Snape became skeptical as soon as he saw the professor, he looked like an old turtle and his dark green robes didn't help.

"What is this method you may ask? PREVENTION! Yes, that's right! Prevention is the key to safety. See that rhymes, so it's easy to remember. Now repeat after me: preventions is…. The KEY to SAFETY!"

The rest of the group mumbled the phrase half-heartedly but this did not seem to discourage the professor one bit.

"Now let's go over DECI: Distract, Escape, Conceal, Inform. Distract the aggressor, escape from the situation, conceal yourself and then inform the proper authorities. Follow your instincts! Now how about some practice?"

Snape looked around and saw faces expressing a range of emotions from, confusion and disbelief, to slight amusement and then Yanko who was rolling on the floor laughing. The group spent the rest of the afternoon throwing leaves and pointing dramatically, ducking behind prop trash bins, hiding in closets and bushes and learning how to file a muggle police complaint.

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Professor Allicoom had managed to unite the group for the first time. They all spent dinner making fun of the professor and his techniques.

"Honestly if anyone at Durmstrang behaved that way when challenged to a duel they'd spent the rest of their lives dunked in a toilet."

"Maybe he has and that's why is head is shaped all funny."

Each new joke was met with roars of laughter, even Snape cracked a smile a few times. He agreed with Aleksandar, anyone who used DECI at school would be immediately labelled a coward and tormented every waking moment. He couldn't imagine even Potter being that much of a coward.

When dinner was over Lily said she needed to pack and went straight up to her room. Snape decided to take a little walk as he had just realized that he hadn't gotten to see much of the school and wanted to look around before they left for Paris tomorrow. He didn't tell Lily, afraid she's make too much of it. He knew he'd probably never come back here again, and it would only be for a few minutes. Snape started by walking around the greenhouse garden, reminiscing on the Herbology lesson, laughing when he reached the tree Lily got stuck in running away from a morphed fanged geranium. He walked around the upper hallways and even through the grounds and saw that the sun was going down.

His last stop was the catacombs. He knew he ought not to go in alone but from what he saw when he was inside, there wasn't anything dangerous down there. Most likely students would get lost and there might be a poltergeist down there. Considering Hogwarts had the Forbidden Forest and Peeves, Snape felt he could handle anything the French had to throw at him.

It was fairly dark in the catacombs even with lit torches hanging sporadically on the walls and Snape holding his lit wand in front of him. Snape would tap the stone walls every now and then, leaving a numbered mark he could use to find his way back. He walked deeper and deeper into the catacombs, stumbling onto skeletons sticking out of the walls, grave markers and even a large mausoleum marked 'La Famille Durand'.

After some 30 minutes of wandering around underneath the school, Snape came upon a most peculiar room. It appeared to be a cave whose walls were made of a black, glass-like stone. It was shiny and reflected Snape's image a multitude of times, it was like being in a dark funhouse. There was no light but that from Snape's wand here but he noticed another glow. It was coming from his arm. Snape pushed his sleeve up more, revealing the rune Lily had drawn on him. It was bright and easily visible in the dark of the cavern. It too was reflected on each of the walls and looking at its reflection, Snape finally recognized it.

"Isaz, raido, ehwaz. Safety for the cold journey, or safety from the cold journey?"

Sanpe wasn't sure what a rune meant when it was mirrored nor how these runes translated when used as body runes but it didn't matter in that moment, his thoughts were cut short.

He felt it long before he saw it. Something was wrong and he needed to run, to hide to escape. DECI suddenly became logical and then Snape saw it, a pair of yellow cat eyes seemingly floating in the darkness, bouncing up and down like the little red bulbs in the seminar room. He did not know which direction they were in or where they came from, they were reflected on every surface of the cavern. Snape did not stop to look, he ran out of the cavern, letting his instinct guide him. He looked at the walls for one of his numbered markers but they were gone. In their place were runes, hundreds of them plastered on every inch of wall in red ink, no in blood. He knew it was blood but Snape said 'red ink' in his mind as he ran. His mind asked him why there were only eyes floating and no face glowing in the darkness, just the eyes. And where did the blood come from? No, Snape would no form the answers in his mind; he was just seeing things after all.

Snape climbed out of the catacombs and ran through the halls into his room, not caring how much noise he made. He only stopped when he had secured his room shut and fallen onto his bed. He looked at his forearm; the rune was no longer visible in the early morning light that pressed into his room through the curtains. He closed his eyes and tried to make sense of it all. He knew that it was just the darkness and magic of the place playing tricks on him, somehow he knew it wasn't real but why did he run? The rune told him to. Did Lily know he would need protection, a warning? Snape looked up to the door that linked his and Lily's room. On a sudden whim he got up, opened the door and walked into Lily's room quietly. She was there, asleep and safe. Snape sighed with relief and went back into his room and sat on his bed, holding his head in his hands. He was not used to feeling such a sense of panic and became mad at Lily for making him feel that way. Normally he would have calmly assessed the situation and made his way quickly and calmly out of there after investigating. The panic and pounding of his heart forced him to become a coward for the first time in his life and he was so angry with Lily, he didn't need her protection.

Snape went to the washroom and scrubbed his forearm in an instinctual attempt to rid himself of the rune but he knew that the ink wasn't the type that could just be washed away. Still he turned off the bathroom light to see if the scrubbing had had any effect. He saw the rune glow in the dark but it had changed, part of it had disappeared. There was only one long line running down the length of his forearm left, 'isaz'. Only the cold was left.


	35. Sense Be Damned

Chapter 35: Sense Be Damned

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: Thank you for the wonderful reviews **trapezefixe**! I very much appreciate getting perspective on the story and my writing. About the Snape vs Severus, when I do dialogue I usually do it in my head and names that end in 's' throw me off like when I say "James' book", so I tend to use the last names of characters whose names end in 's'. But the moments she uses 'Sev' are on purpose. As for the discrepancies in quotation, I apologize, I reformat each chapter from manuscript form into story format and I may have unknowingly messed some of the dialogue up. Hopefully it isn't too confusing! Sorry!

I hope you are all having a great holiday break and perhaps this chapter will help get you into the holiday mood!

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Since there were so few of them, the winners took a portkey to their hotel in Paris, which was more of an inn and exclusively for witches and wizards and sometimes their muggle family. All were in various states of sleepiness and dishevelment except for Eloise who seemed not to have slept at all. As she passed Lily and Snape in the foyer of the inn, she gave them a meek smile which Lily returned as a sleepy pout making Eloise smile even wider. Everyone went straight to their rooms which were not as richly decorated as their rooms at Beauxbatons but just as comfortable. Snape wondered if the body runes had anything to do with the general lack of sleep they were all experiencing or if it was just exhaustion or perhaps excitement for some. Snape decided he was too tired to think so he crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

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The next morning Snape woke before the sun rose and washed and dressed warmly. When he knocked on Lily's door it took her a long while to answer. When she opened the door, Snape saw why. Lily must have been wearing no less than four layers of shirts and sweaters under her jacket and stockings under her pants because her arms stuck out away from her body and she was walking funny. Lily looked like those toddlers in snowsuits whose paranoid parents had overdressed them. Lily was wearing a hat and scarf which covered half of her face, only her bright green eyes were visible. She pulled the scarf down, freeing her mouth with a gloved hand and said,

"All ready for the Jeux D'Hiver! I still have a bit of a temperature but I think I should be okay."

"Lily you overdressed! Now you're going to sweat and then get cold and then get sick. Take off at least one sweater."

"First I'm not wearing enough, now I'm wearing too much… make up your mind."

Lily mumbled as she took her jacket off.

Once Lily had redressed, one ugly Christmas sweater less, they went directly to the plaza where the festivities were being held by floo powder. As his French was rather poor, Severus squeezed in the fireplace with Lily as she spoke clearly,

"Musée du Service des Objets Trouvés!"

Snape shook the dizziness from his head and stepped out of the fireplace into a peculiar room that looked like a basement warehouse.

"What is this place?"

"It's the Lost and Found Museum. Anything found in Paris ends up here. It's run by wizards and witches and they often give away unclaimed items to be used as portkeys. In fact several of these items are actually famous portkeys. That chamber pot was used by Oswald Beamish to warn the goblins that the Ministry was planning an illegal search of the Gringotts offices."

"Why is it run by witches and wizards?"

"Because it's easier to keep track of so many things with magic not to mention, it's a good way of making sure no magical objects are accidentally picked up by muggles if a wizard or witch drops them or leaves them somewhere."

"The Jeux D'Hiver aren't in here are they?"

"No, no. Just outside is Berbiguier Square. That's where everything is set up."

As Lily said this the pair walked out of the Lost and Found Museum and into Berbiguier Square which looked like a winter wonderland festival. There were stalls everywhere; many selling food and crafts most of which were enchanted to sing or glow or sparkle. A small parade of dancing snowmen, including an adorable snow baby passed by Lily and Snape and the music was so infections Lily almost joined them. As the pair passed by they were called out to by vendors selling snowflake lollipops, candied pumpkin jelly and warm apple cider. Lily waddled from stall to stall breathing in the mouthwatering aromas, settling on a chocolate waffle for breakfast. Once they were fed, they went to see the main stage where contestants were brewing potions while filmed by cameras that spun and crackled with electricity. It very much reminded Snape of Diagon alley except less narrow and, if possible, louder.

"Don't you think muggles living around here notice anything?"

"Well it's mostly wizards in those apartment buildings, actually. When it isn't step up for the Jeux D'Hiver this place is an open market and the witches and wizards like being able to do their shopping so close to home. I imagine many of the people who own stalls here live in those buildings."

Lily pulled a pamphlet out of her pocket with difficulty.

"It says here this area was once used as a vineyard and most recently a slaughterhouse. Gross. Anyways a few years ago the city decided to repurpose this space as a park and garden. Of course it was the Ministry of Magic which was at the forefront of this conversion and building project since they were in desperate need of space close to the center of Paris to hold events and run businesses. The muggle population believes it is still under construction, so that'll give them a few years to make the muggles forget this place ever existed. Apparently it was named after some squib who was tormented by goblins and gave the land away to appease them. Oh look! It's Eloise!"

Lily, who had been waddling around at a dizzying pace all morning, rushed over to what appeared to be a statue of Eloise at a stand on the side of the square.

"Morning!"

All Eloise managed to do was blink and shiver.

"Oh dear, how about some apple cider to warm you up?"

Eloise slowly reached out for the cup and drank it down in one shot. Finally she said,

"I 'ave been here zince 4:47 in ze morning. I am cold and I can no longer feel my feet. 'Elp me. Pleeze!"

Lily giggled and conjured a floating flame which Eloise huddled next to.

"What are you selling?"

"Gobstone and Wizard Chess sets. I am on ze teams at Beauxbatons. Anything you like?"

While Eloise warmed herself Lily and Snape looked around. Many of them were elaborate with a style to fit anyone's taste; gold embossed, jewel-encrusted, polished mahogany and even wrought iron.

"Did you make one Eloise?"

"Yes, I 'and, well magic 'andcrafted zat stone set zer."

Snape looked the set over. It was made of stone, the base of which had a replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral carved into it. The playing pieces were modeled after characters from Victor Hugo's the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with Quasimodo representing the pawns.

"Wow, this is really well made Eloise."

"Thank you Lily!"

Elosie seemed to be in a far better mood now that she was warm.

"I never liked wizard's chess, too violent and it seems sad to watch the little figurines die."

"Well ze story iz a tragedy, well it iz more realistic but we call it a tragedy. I would 'ave made Esmeralda ze pawn, because really she was ze one with ze least control but aesthetically it made sense to make her ze queen."

Snape let Lily and Eloise continue their conversation while he started a game of chess with a self playing set.

"Humm, it seems bell towers have a bit of a reputation for tragedy."

"Yes I don't know why, I find zem to be very peaceful places."

Eloise replied with a sort of dreamy look in her eyes.

"Are you going to the ball tomorrow?"

"Yes, ov course, all ze winners must go really."

"Are you going with anyone?

"No, I am not dating anyone and well, I am not very popular at my school you zee."

"Well that's just too bad for them Eloise, you seem really nice. It's the same at Hogwarts really though, no one seems to see how amazing Sev is."

Both Snape and Eloise blushed when Lily made this comment. In his moment of inattentiveness the opposing side's knight took Snape's bishop, which Snape was still holding. The knight cut the bishop in two and slashed Snape's fingertip in the process, raining little droplets of blood across the Notre Dame chessboard.

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Lily and Snape spent the rest of the day going from booth to booth, browsing and occasionally stopping to buy something. The Christmas spirit was infectious and even Severus found himself humming along to various carols and craving something with pumpkin and cinnamon in it. Best of all was seeing the joy light up Lily's face, just like when she was little, when they had first met. It was late evening and the sun had long set, when Lily suggested they go ice skating.

"Come on Sev! It'll be fun!"

"I don't know how to skate Lily."

"Yes you do its easy come on!"

Snape begrudgingly took the rental skates from an excessively perky witch and put them on. Lily was having a bit of trouble lacing hers up.

"Allow me Lily."

Aleksander and the other Durmstrang boys walked over to them.

"How about we skate together? It'll be romantic."

"No thank you! I'd rather not."

Lily grabbed Snape's hand and tottered off onto the ice. Snape managed to keep up with Lily but was not enjoying being on a slippery surface, he was clumsy enough on land. Whenever he fell roars of laughter could be heard from the Durmstrang crew who would race by right next to Snape in the hopes of knocking him over. Severus had half a mind to jinx them into the snow bank next to the rink but got an even better idea. He skated over to the snow bank and magically conjured half a dozen snowballs.

"Hey Aleksander! Over here!"

When Aleksander turned toward Snape he threw a snowball at him which hit Aleksander right in the face. Yanko retaliated and soon enough chaos ensued. Bahlmoore accidentally hit Lily who fell over onto Damyan when she tried to throw a snowball at Yanko. Damyan moved with ease and grace to his feet and then lifted Lily into his arms and set her upright again. The blushing pair found themselves to be the targets of several snowballs, all of which Damyan took in order to protect Lily. He smiled down at Lily before making his own snowball and throwing it at Snape who was still pelting several in Damyan's direction. One of Damyan's snowballs hit Eloise who was having trouble keeping her balance as it was. When she fell over she didn't bother getting up but started throwing magically conjured snowballs at all of the Durmstrang boys. Soon Eloise became the Durmstrang boys' favorite target but she managed to hold her own, hitting them far more often than they managed to hit her.

When Lily announced she could no longer feel her fingers she and Snape left the rink and the scene of the snowball fight, which had spread to include several innocent passer-bys. As they were walking back to the Lost and Found Museum from where they would floo back to their inn, Lily turned to Snape and asked,

"Tomorrow is Christmas Eve… what do you want to do before the ball starts?"

"I don't know, how long will it take you to get ready?"

"A couple of hours I suspect."

"Well it starts at 5:30 so you'd need to get in by 3:30 the latest. Too bad we weren't at home, we could watch some of those old movies. What was that one your mom liked? Miracle on 44th Street?"

"Its 34th Street, Miracle on 34th Street. I suppose we could have. I was thinking we could decorate a little Christmas tree in my room. I know there are plenty around but I thought it might be nice to do our own so we could put our presents underneath it and open them Christmas morning, just like we did at home."

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll have to put a charm on your gifts so you can't try and peek before the morning."

"Me? Peek? Why I never!"

"Right like two years ago when the wrapping paper mysteriously 'disintegrated'?"

"I stand by that story."

"Yeah you do that Lily."

Lily playfully punched Snape in the arm who laughed. Lily stopped and looked at Severus as he laughed and broke out into a big smile. Snape stopped as well and turned towards Lily, they were looking each other in the eye.

"Mais s'il vous plaît. Il fait froid!"

Lily and Snape's gaze was interrupted by a small clump of French wizards who were shivering excessively. It seemed they were blocking the path. The pair went into the museum and flooed back to the inn and straight into their warm beds.

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The following morning Snape woke to an incessant tapping on his door.

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE SEV!"

Lily popped a Christmas cracker and barged into Snape's room.

"Lily its 7 in the morning."

"Correction it is 7 in the morning on Christmas Eve! In less than 24 hours it will be Christmas and at this time tomorrow at the latest we will be opening presents! Yaay presents!"

"But then it'll all be over."

"NOOO! Don't say it! Christmas is never, ever, ever ending! NEVER YOU HEAR?"

"You're insane Lily."

"It's called Christmas Cheer you little Scrooge. Now hurry and get dressed, we have a tree to put up!"

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After dressing and having breakfast, Snape and Lily got to decorating. They put up tinsel and streamers all over the room and even hung glittering baubles from the ceiling. Then Snape was sent to get a tree while Lily baked cookies. When he returned with a small tree, only slightly taller than he was, Snape found Lily making a wreath while humming a carol with a gingerbread cookie in her mouth.

She smiled as Snape came in and gasped when she saw the tree, the cookie falling to the floor.

"Oops! I'll clean that up later. Wow, Severus the tree looks lovely! Put it there in the corner and then hang this wreath on the door."

Snape did as he was told knowing there was no way to tone down Lily's Christmas spirit.

Once the tree was secured Lily asked Snape to get a box from under the bed.

"What's in here? Your secret porn collection?"

"Ha ha ha, very funny. Or should I say ho ho ho?"

"I was just going to say the same thing actually."

"Oi! Meany! Those are the decorations and bulbs for the tree actually."

Snape opened the box and saw years worth of poorly made Christmas tree decorations. Most of them were made by Lily in muggle school when she was little. Snape's favorite decoration was a pair of ice skates made by gluing together two pieces of velvet, in between which, at the bottom was a paperclip which served as the blade. The two skates were joined by a string which was used to hang the skates on the tree. They were Snape's favorite because one skate said 'Lily' on it and the other said 'Severus'. Seeing these skates again made Severus smile widely, he hung them front and center on the tree.

After they had finished decorating the tree, Lily pulled out a large angel for the top. Snape noticed that the once blond angel had become a redhead.

"What? So I painted it. A bit discriminatory to have all the angels blond and all the demons redheads! Looks much better this way."

"I wholeheartedly agree Lily."

Snape said as he took the angel from Lily's outstretched hand and placed it on top of the tree where it glowed brightly.

A music box started playing on Lily's nightstand.

"That's the alarm for 3:30, I need to get ready. Off you go Sev, and do try to look nice."

"Me? I always try to look nice."

Said Snape with a fake look of innocence and offense. Lily just smiled and shoved him out the door.

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It was 5:20 in the evening and Snape was waiting in the entrance hall connected to the Christmas Eve Ball hall. There was a large staircase with royal blue carpeting at the bottom of which many boys were standing around mingling, waiting for their dates. Snape saw that at least two of the Durmstrang boys were accompanied by a selection of those annoying Beauxbatons girls. They were wearing ghastly matching dresses, one in red and the other in a light blue and each wore a feather of the same colour as their dresses in their hair.

Many girls came down the stairs, a few receiving applause or gasps from the crowd below. Snape checked the large clock on the wall and saw that it read 5:35, several couples were beginning to enter the hall and take their seats. Others were milling beneath the large bunch of mistletoe in the entrance hall, working up the courage to kiss. Snape was quickly becoming impatient; it was so like Lily to be late. Just then Snape heard a collective gasp from the crowd and then whispers which meant yet another girl had appeared at the top of the stairs. Snape looked up and saw none other than Lily.

Lily was wearing a white one shoulder dress which flowed into light blue and then deep dark blue as it reached the hem, the colours of a rolling wave. All her hair was loose and curly, bunched over her shoulder to the same side as her dress, leaving the other shoulder exposed. The dress had a belt made of blue stones which wrapped around Lily's hips and then hung straight down to the ground. A pair of blue glittering heels just peeked out from under the hem of her dress. Snape stood there, mouth agape as Lily walked towards him. As she approached, he saw why her hair was to one side, the back of her dress consisted of small white and blue crystal snowflakes stitched onto a sheer mesh, exposing the smooth curve of her back.

"Lily you look absolutely beautiful… j..just stunning."

Lily blushed slightly, making Snape notice her light make up and snowflake earrings, and then raised her hand which Snape took in his. They both went to stand on the side where the other winners were lining up.

"Lily! Wow, you look very very pretty!"

"Thank you Eloise. You do too, The dress fits you so well!"

Snape saw that Eloise had put a fair amount of effort into herself that evening. She wore a bow headband and a pretty red dress which showed off a surprisingly nice figure. It was modest but classy. Snape tried to smile in encouragement as it was obvious Eloise was both nervous and feeling awkward.

"Eef only you dressed like zis more Eloise per'aps that crippled boy in 4th year would agree to date you."

Veronique said before laughing shrilly.

"Oh quiet Veronique! What's that thing on the back of your dress? Your ass need more room?"

Aleksander, her date, laughed and looked Lily up and down in a way Snape did not all together like.

"You truly are a beauty Lily, all of England must melt in your wake."

Damyan whispered in Lily's ear as he came up behind her. Snape pulled Lily closer to him and moved away from the group. Lily giggled and allowed Snape to lead her away. Then it was time for the winners to make their entrance.

Dinner was a muted affair as the guests were served course after course, Snape stopped counting and eating at 8. There was dancing after, which took a while to get going as several people were too stuffed to leave their seats. Snape and Lily drank some butterbeer and Eloise and Lily danced a bit while Snape charmed plates to rotate around tables so people would eat each others' food.

"Severus! Stop that!"

"Sorry, it's funny though. Besides no one is really eating anymore, I just like how confused they get. Most of the time they just think they sat at the wrong place, look!"

Snape pointed at a table where everyone had gotten up and started moving around the table as though they were playing musical chairs. Lily laughed.

"Well at least you're not as bad as Yanko."

Lily pointed over to Yanko who was charming tinsel to wrap around girls' dresses so their skirts would lift up as they walked away.

"He really is all sorts of gross."

Commented Lily.

"He sort of reminds me of Pettigrew actually."

"Yeah, but… greasier."

Lily replied in agreement.

"Hey it's hot in here, I think I'd like to go out for some air."

"Sure Lily, I'll grab us some drinks and meet you outside."

Lily nodded and started toward the door while Snape made his way to the bar. This was it, Snape thought. He was going to get some butterbeer in the both of them and do it, he was going to confess. It was perfect, they would be alone and it was romantic and Lily looked beautiful and he probably looked as good as he was going to. Not to mention it would be just slightly dark outside, which might help Snape somewhat. Severus took a deep breath with the drinks in hand and walked towards the doors to the, now, deserted entrance hall. Snape slowly pushed the large door open and through the crack of the partially opened door he saw Lily standing underneath the mistletoe, being kissed by Eloise.

**8**

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Reviews are the greatest Christmas presents of all! Won't you leave one under my tree?


	36. Painfully Encased

Chapter 36: Painfully Encased

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **Alethea27** Yes that is one of the places I traveled to this past summer along with parts of Italy and Eastern Europe. **IonicAmalgam **If by 'this' you mean the story then no, this is a long term multi-year project. If you mean the mini story arc then yes, nearly there… =D No one had a clue about Eloise? Really? I've been hinting at it ever since they first met in ch. 29 and Eloise was caught staring at Lily's kilt a bit too hard. If you read through Lily and Eloise's interactions again I think you'll see it. Anyone seen Bridget Jones 2?

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Snape staggered backwards and allowed the door to close on the scene. He was in complete shock. For a few moments he stood there in front of the door, mouth agape with the drinks tilting precariously in his hands, on the verge of spilling. Then a couple started towards him and he snapped out of his daze, bolting out the back door into the cold night beyond. Severus wasn't sure what to do or think. He had thought about the possibility that one of the Durmstrang winners might catch Lily's attention but never Eloise. Even among the women, not that he had any suspicion that Lily swung that way, but even so, Eloise of all people? Suddenly Snape felt like he had always disliked Eloise greatly even though a voice in his head reminded him that he had sympathized with her. Snape put the drinks down on the first flat surface he found and walked around in the snow covered courtyard. The cold was having little effect on him as Snape was flush and hot with surprise, anger and a hint of something else. No matter how long he walked around and thought, nothing came to him. He was simply not prepared for this eventuality. Snape decided it was best to pretend he didn't see anything and that nothing happened. He didn't even consider that Lily was the one who had engaged Eloise, because the only thing worse than losing Lily to another guy was to lose her to a girl, that he had no chance in hell at all.

Snape reentered the ball and looked around for Lily. His heart jumped in a moment of panic when he considered that Eloise and Lily might have left the party together to be alone. But then he spotted Eloise drinking something by the bar and although he searched the crowd for her bright red hair, Lily was nowhere to be found. Snape held back the temptation to go over to Eloise and demand an explanation; he was pretending it never happened so he couldn't be mad. Severus assumed Lily had gone back to her room so he did the same.

When Snape reached his room he looked down the hall at Lily's door and considered going over there and seeing how she was. It could be casual, just checking on her since she left so suddenly. He coughed a few times and tried to relax then went over to her door. He knocked but no one answered.

"Lily, are you in there?"

He heard movement behind the door. Then the door opened slowly and Lily popped her head out, looking up and down the hall before inviting Severus in.

"Hey, sorry about leaving, I wasn't feeling too well."

"It's alright. Do you think your fever is coming back?"

"Oh, yeah maybe."

"Well then you should probably call it a night early, wouldn't want to be feeling sick tomorrow, you know considering how much food they've prepared for lunch."

"Yeah, definitely."

"Well then I guess I'll let you get to bed. Presents at 7 am sharp right?"

"Yup. As always."

Lily did her best to give Snape a wide smile but it shook and staggered off her face quickly. Snape gave her a smile that probably looked very similar and then left. He quickly went into his room feeling somewhat better. It seemed that whatever happened, Lily was none too thrilled about it. He slid into bed and tried to erase the image of Lily and Eloise under the mistletoe from his head but every time he closed his eyes it appeared in his mind as clearly as the first time.

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7 am came both quickly and slowly at the same time for Severus. It was a restless night where he drifted in and out of sleep, always too warm or too cold and his forearm tingled annoyingly. When he saw the clock hit 6:50 in the still dim morning light he got up and washed then got dressed in a Christmas sweater, just because he knew how much Lily liked them. At 7 sharp he went to Lily's door.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS SEV!"

Lily greeted him with her usual warm smile and bright expression as though last night was perfectly normal. Snape was glad for it.

"Happy Christmas Lily. You didn't open anything without me did you?"

"Of course not! Come in"

Snape saw, under the tree they decorated, two piles of presents. He knew right away which one was Lily's because it was significantly larger. Lily noticed what he was looking at and turned away awkwardly before saying,

"Half of those are from Potter. I'm not even going to bother opening them, I'm sending them right back. Come on, my mum's sent you something."

Snape tried to look cheerful but only managed a half smirk. He sat down as Lily handed him a large, heavily wrapped gift with a green velvet bow from Lily's mother. Snape hurriedly unwrapped it and chuckled slightly at what he found inside. Lily's parents disliked shopping in Diagon Alley because of the crowds and various magical contraptions which they didn't understand so they would try to find muggle equivalents for things. Snape had been gifted a handsome eagle feather pen which he was almost certain wouldn't work with magical ink, a Christmas sweater with several reindeer on it, including real jingling bells, an assortment of muggle cookies and chocolates and a set of glass vials. Snape remembered wondering what Lily's parents thought of him, he supposed Lily never told them anything. Had things turned out differently would Snape be sitting alone in his room at Hogwarts opening a gift from Lily's parents, sent without any clue of the fresh wave of pain it would cause him? Snape managed to smile then, things had worked out better than he could have dreamed. Lily took his smile to mean he liked the gift.

"Guess now your snowman sweater will have a friend. Let's see what mum got me."

Lily opened her present and found a similar sweater and tons of bath products and make up. As Lily looked through the gift box Snape saw a tear slide down her cheek.

"Lily…?"

"Oh sorry it's just, it's the first Christmas since, you know, without my dad."

"Oh Lily, come here."

Snape reached out his arms and wrapped them around Lily in a tight hug. Snape hadn't considered that this Christmas would be bittersweet for her. Lily reached around and hugged Snape back and they stayed that way for a several minutes and it seemed like heaven for Severus. He couldn't help but pout slightly when she pulled away and said,

"Sorry about that, I'm fine really it's just… he loved Christmas time.

"Don't apologize Lily, its okay. Here, open this one next. "

Snape handed her just any random present from her pile. Lily smiled weakly and took the present, ripped the paper open without checking who it was from. It was a polished stone chess set and all of the pieces seemed to be women. Snape picked up a pawn and saw in tiny letters the words 'Joan D'Arc' on the base. Lily picked up the tag and her faced dropped.

"What is it?"

"It's from Eloise. How embarrassing, I didn't think to get her anything."

Lily mumbled and quickly grabbed another present.

"Here this one is for you."

Snape took the gift which was from Avery and opened it to find several potions ingredients and supplies. Lily smiled and opened a gift from Alice, ignored a small stack of boxes from Potter which were now shaking to get her attention.

Once all the other present except those from James had been opened Lily and Snape sat cross-legged holding each other's presents.

"You go first Severus! You've been watching me open stuff for the last 20 minutes."

Snape looked down at the large heavy package and shook it, but nothing seemed to move. Snape opened the package a saw an impossibly black cloak lined with a thick metal chain. Snape picked it up but it felt too light considering the chain, but the fabric itself felt too heavy.

"Wow Lily, it's beautiful, but… what is it?"

"A cloak."

"It can't just be a cloak, it… it feels… not right."

"It's a Nightcloak, lined with a replica of the Gleipnir. It isn't as strong since I only managed four of the six impossible objects but… you know."

"You made this?"

Lily blushed and nodded 'yes'.

"Wow, you really have a talent for it, it looks amazing. A Nightcloak huh? How did you know?"

"Well after what happened with well, I thought you could use a little extra cover at night, it should make you blend in more once the sun sets. Don't know how good a job I did."

"A replica of the Gleipnir, wait a minute, you mean the mythical binds that hold the great wolf Fenrisulfr?"

"Well it's just a replica based on the ancient description, I translated the runes instead of working with that nonsense list muggles have. The breath of a fish, honestly… they just didn't know how to make sense of magical objects. Anyways like I said this one is only composed of four of six objects, if I translated them correctly. I tried the chain out, it is pretty strong and uncommonly light so I guess I did something right."

Snape put the cloak on and reached to his shoulder where there was a handle built onto the chain so that it could be pulled off the cloak with ease. He pulled it out and weighted it in his hands, noting how light it was, as though he was holding a length of light fabric. He tied the chain to Lily's bed and pulled. The chain held and the bed creaked a few inches towards him.

"Impressive. Well once again you've not only outdone my present but out done yourself Lily. You really want to make me look bad don't you?"

"Don't be silly, for all I know I've totally messed it up and it's useless."

"I doubt that. Alright open yours up."

A giddy Lily put her present up to her ear and shook it and heard plenty of rattling. After giving Snape a quizzing look she tore off the paper and opened the lid to the box, only to find another box. Lily laughed and then opened the lid to the smaller box and found an even smaller box. Severus watched Lily's growing frustration with satisfaction; she looked so cute to him. After several more boxes Lily was left holding one smaller than the palm of her hand. She shook it and heard something metallic, causing her to give an excited gasp. She slowly opened the lid of the box and found a lily-shaped pendant the size of a galleon. It was painted like a white lily on one side and a red lily on the other, the chain was silver. Lily gasped again and picked it up.

"Sev, it is just breathtakingly beautiful. It must have cost you a fortune, you shouldn't have."

"Naw, I bought it from a muggle shop, I enchanted it a bit here, let me."

Snape reached for the pendant and twisted it so that the pedals of the lilies didn't match up and opened the pendant which was really a locket. Inside the locket images of Lily and Snape at various ages were swirling around, becoming mist and fog and then reforming as a new picture over and over. Lily looked at the images hungrily, not wanting to miss a single one, laughing every now and then.

"Sev, how... I mean where did you get these pictures?"

Snape pointed to his head.

"From up here. They're still images from my memories, our memories."

"Oh!"

The images had stopped and the inside of the locket was black for nearly a minute until the pictures started again, with a picture of Snape and Lily the first summer they met.

"Bit of a bug there Sev, it goes black for a while."

"Not a bug, I left a few spaces open for you know, future memories."

Lily turned her head away from the locket and towards Snape with tears in her eyes. All of a sudden she hugged his and whispered,

"Sev it is absolutely wonderful I don't, I can't even. I love it, I love it so much."

Snape blushed, in his mind the 'it' turned into 'you' in that sentence and he enjoyed his fantasy for a few seconds, pretending Lily had confessed to him, it was likely the closest he'd ever get. He held her and hugged her more tightly than necessary. Two hugs in one day, Snape was catching some of Lily's giddiness.

When she pulled away Lily was wiping tears from her cheeks.

"I think you won this year Sev."

"It isn't a competition Lily.

"I suppose not, but still… because you said before."

"I was just joking Lily."

"Here can, can you put it on me? Or should I not wear it out much? I wouldn't want to lose it."

"Don't worry you can wear it without any worries. I put a charm on the chain. It won't break and no accio spell will take it from you."

"When did your charm work get so good Severus?"

"It was always good I just don't show off, unlike someone I know."

Lily laughed and then suddenly stopped holding her stomach. Snape heard her tummy growl.

"Alright all done, it is on. Should we go down to breakfast?"

Lily nodded 'yes' while blushing slightly and playing with the locket in her hand.

Lily and Snape went down to the dining room off the inn kitchen for breakfast. As they were sitting at the table they saw a familiar face walking by.

"Professor Locus?"

The old, toothless wizard turned sharply when Lily called his name.

"Do I know you?"

"My name is Lily Evans, I'm one of the winners, from Hogwarts. My friend Severus and I were at your potions seminar at Beauxbatons a few days ago."

"Ah, yes, yes, I remember."

"Are you feeling okay? We heard you were sick."

"Ah yes, that, just a small mishap nothing to worry about. Now if you'll excuse me."

And with that professor Locus walked away, never even bothering to look at Severus or Lily. He went up the stairs towards the bedroom.

"I guess he's staying here too."

"Well not too many places for visiting wizards to stay here in Paris Lily."

"Guess so."

She replied and sat down at the table with a shrug of her shoulders.

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After breakfast Lily and Snape retired back to their rooms to indulge in their presents. Snape started making some potions and Lily was trying on some robes Alice had bought her.

When it was time for lunch Lily and Snape went down to the main dining hall where a large Christmas Lunch was being served to all the guests at the inn. All the other winners were at the lunch, including Eloise but both Lily and Snape avoided her.

"Happy Christmas Lily, and you too Lily's faithful gargoyle."

"Shove it Yanko."

"Not much Christmas spirit in this one huh Lily? How about a Christmas kiss?"

"How about you go wank yourself?"

Yanko gasped and put his hand over Lily's mouth, looking serious for a change. Snape was ready to rip his arm out of its socket.

"Shhh! Lily don't say things like that! The baby Jesus will hear you!"

Lily rolled her eyes and pushed him away, taking a seat as far from them and Eloise as possible.

The lunch was almost as good as the feast as Hogwarts. Snape hated the few years he had to stay at Hogwarts alone during the holidays, when Lily's family went away. However, the one thing he did enjoy was the massive Christmas lunch. Here there were several three-bird-roasts which was a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed in a turkey. All sorts of potatoes, pies, gravies, vegetables and pastas. Snape ate his fill and then remembered dessert which consisted of several French pastries which made Snape's mouth water.

"I don't know about their food but French desserts are amazing."

"I second that."

Replied Lily with a sigh, she had to unbutton her pants slightly.

After pulling crackers and playing a round of exploding snap, Lily said she was confidant she could walk once more. The pair got up from the table and made their way towards their room. While Lily was lagging behind, after she noticed that she had forgotten to button her pants back up, Eloise approached Snape.

"Joyeux Noël!"

"Uhh, Happy Christmas Eloise."

"Zorry to bother you but, I was wondering, per'aps if you could spare zome time for me tonight. I just… well… yes would like to talk."

Snape had a faint idea what about.

"Uhh, sure, maybe after dinner then?"

"Okay then."

Eloise smiled a little and then went up the stairs. Lily joined Snape shortly after and he had a vague suspicion that she purposely waited until Eloise was gone. As they were walking up the stairs they heard a scream from the floor above. They ran upstairs to see what was the matter and saw Eloise standing in front of her room, the door swinging on its hinges. Lily seemed to be debating whether she should risk going over to help or not but then decided it was alright as a crowd of people was forming around Eloise. Severus, being the taller of the two, craned his neck over the crowd to see what the fuss was about. He saw Eloise's room in shambles. Furniture was tipped over and drawers were left open with papers spilling out, the room looked as though it had been ransacked. He saw the Durmstrang boys at the other side of the crowd, giving each other meaningful looks. Eloise saw the crowd and seemed to be embarrassed; she hurried into her room and began to tidy things. She only allowed the maid to help her and slowly the crowd dispersed. Lily glared at Snape and they walked back to Lily's room.

"What do you think that was about?

"No clue Lily, maybe someone has it out from Eloise, you know, didn't seem like she's too popular."

"Yeah, she is a bit of an outcast… I hope it isn't… nevermind who knows."

But Snape knew what she was thinking, what if someone saw what happened and was sending Eloise a message about what they thought of her kind around Christmas. He would ask her about it when they met up later that night but he made a note to tell Lily to lock up well from then on.

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It was well after 8 when everyone had left the dinner table. The sky was already pitch black and there was a chill in the air. Snape decided to take his new cloak with him, just in case Eloise and he ran into any trouble, it could come in handy.

He went down to Eloise's room and knocked on the door. It took her a while to answer and she seemed nervous and on edge.

"Did anyone follow you? Does anyone know you are 'ere?"

"No, I didn't bother to tell Lily either, well, just because."

"Good, that will make thingz nice and easy."

"Make what easy?"

But even as the words were leaving his mouth Snape felt his forearm tingle and the hair on the back of his neck stand. He never heard what Eloise said, he just felt a sudden darkness overcome him and then there was only cold darkness.

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When Snape awoke he was groggy and disoriented, as though he was drunk. He didn't feel his bed but something cold and hard beneath me. His forearm which was tingling before was now stinging horribly and he let out a groan. He opened his eyes but his vision was blurry and it was very dark. He turned his head to the right and felt something cold and hard on his cheek, he was on a stone floor. He tried to get up but it was a though he was being held by Devil's Snare. He tried to look around and gather his bearing but everything was dark. All he could make out was some sort of paint of the floor next to him, forming some sort of marking but from this vantage point he couldn't be sure if they were letter or not. His forearm gave a particularly nasty sting and he groaned in pain again.

"Ah you are awake, finally."

Snape tried to find the source of the voice, but he needn't search long. Eloise stood above him with a bloody dagger in her hand.

"I was worried we would be be'ind schedule."

She smiled down at him in a way Snape had never seen her smile before and then dragged the dagger on the floor, scraping the tip over and over. Severus looked down at his forearm and saw a long, bloody gash. It was then that he realized the markings on the floor weren't drawn in paint, but his own blood.

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Need a last minute gift? How about a review? =D


	37. Hot-Blooded, Cold-Hearted

Chapter 37: Hot-Blooded, Cold-Hearted

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: **"M" Guest** – You are indeed asking the correct questions! This is the final chapter in the mini story arc! Hope you like it! Of course the main story continues but I figured since they'd be away from Hogwarts it would make sense to have a story that started and ended while they were away. That's not to say this doesn't fit into the bigger picture…

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"Eloise, what, what's going on… what are you doing?"

"Come now Severus I zought you were smarter zen zat. 'Aven't you figured eet out yet?"

Snape's eyes had adjusted to the dark and he could see more of the room he was in. It seemed like a basement or cellar of some sort, but there was something strange about the walls; they looked as though they were crumbling.

"Where are we?"

"Not zat eet matters but we are in zee ruins of Notre Dame."

"Why here?"

"Zee ritual will work better 'ere."

"Ritual?"

There was a definite panic in Snape's voice that he wasn't able to completely hide. Eloise had heard it as well and stopped her scraping; she appeared above Snape again with that same sickening smile.

"Ahh, yes, now you understand. Be a good boy and stay steell zen."

Eloise brought the dagger down and as she did Snape caught a glimpse of a familiar set of etching on the hilt but he did not have time to figure out what they were because his eyes snapped shut in pain as Eloise sliced open his other forearm. Severus let out another groan and Eloise picked up his arm, squeezing it as though she was juicing a lemon so that more blood spilled onto the floor. When she was satisfied with the amount, Eloise dropped his arm and it fell hard against the cold stone floor which eased some of the hot pain shooting through Snape.

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Because eet iz your fault! Eef eet wasn't for you, she would not be so afraid."

"Who? Afraid of what exactly?"

"Lily! My dear, sweet Lily."

"You stay away from her! Don't you dare hurt her!"

Snape struggled against his restraints, causing his forearms to bleed more profusely.

" 'Urt 'er? I would never, not in a million years. I love 'er, and she loves me too… she eez just too afraid to admit eet."

"You're delusional."

"Or maybe you know eet iz true and just do not want to admit eet, huh? She did not pull away when I kissed 'er but zen she saw you at zee door and ran away!"

Eloise had gotten riled up and walked away as she yelled. Snape used this opportunity to try and find a means of escape but his focus was distracted at best, did Lily really like… well… women?

"From zee moment I saw 'er I knew Lily understood me. And eet waz zer in zee cards! A big change, a decision was coming up in 'er life, in 'er love life. But you are in zee way, you are keeping 'er from being 'er true self. Not even the runes worked."

"Did you ever consider you were wrong? That Lily isn't… like you?"

Eloise stopped her angry pacing and considered this for a moment, then her face became flush red with anger and she appeared above Severus once more.

"You would say zat!"

Eloise bent down and grabbed Snape's hair, pulled his face upwards close to hers.

"You do not understand us!"

"Really? You think you understand Lily better than I, who have known her since before we started Hogwarts? I think I understand you pretty well too."

"Oh yeah, you do 'uh?"

Eloise dropped his head and it hit the stone floor roughly. She turned to walk away but Snape took his chance.

"Yes I do. You're a nobody, a speck of dust on the window. You could out-magic, out-smart and out-maneuver everyone single person in your school but no one so much as turns to look at you because you aren't rich or good looking enough to be worth the time of day. Then, someone comes along… Lily, and she's perfect; beautiful, kind, smart, funny and everything else good in the world. She takes notice of you and treats you well… and… and then you can't stop thinking about her, because for once someone saw you for who you really are. When you looked in her eyes you saw reflected back an actual human being, and you felt like you were worthy for the very first time."

Eloise appeared again, but instead of looking angry or mocking, there were tears welling in her eyes.

"How..."

"How do I know? Because I know how you feel, because that's what Lily is to me too. I mean look at me, do you think anyone at my school was happy I won? Or acknowledged me at all? Not even for a moment."

Tears spilled freely down Eloise's cheeks, the dagger trembled in her hand.

"Eef things were different, you and I could 'ave been friends Severus, but I am sorry, I must do zis, pierce your 'eart and win Lily's."

Eloise raised the trembling dagger over her head.

"No! Please Eloise don't do this!"

Eloise's hands shook even harder, and for a moment it seemed as though she had changed her mind, but then Eloise disappeared from view and Snape heard a loud crash at the far end of the room. Confused and frightened, Snape tried to look around but from his vantage point he could discover nothing. Was he dead? No he was in too much pain. Then he heard the sounds of footsteps, several pairs, coming his way.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know I'm sure we got her though."

Snape saw several shadows above him and then one turned around and he recognized the face.

"Aleksander? Yanko? Is that you?"

"Oh, it's Snape. So you're the one she had down here for the ritual? Nice going, getting caught by a girl."

Yanko mocked as he undid the restraints that held Snape down

"I wasn't exactly on my guard around her."

"Well, that wasn't exactly smart of you then was it… particularly after she nearly killed us in Paris."

"She was the one who bruised you up that night?"

"Did a fair bit more than bruise us, I'm sure we just nearly ducked around a few death curses and she took our dagger."

Aleksander seemed to be looking around for the aforementioned item.

"I saw her with one, she was holding it before she disappeared."

"Must have been ours, we knew once she took it she would try something like this but… well we thought Lily might be the target, or one of the girls from her school. So we tried to keep an eye on them."

"So that's why you took them to the ball with you, and kept hitting on Lily."

"Well one of the reasons."

Bahlmoore answered with a wink.

"Why did you think one of the girls was the target?"

"The ritual she was preparing for was meant to sacrifice someone who was competition for the person someone loved, in order to win over said person. We figured she saw the girls as competition. Guess we were wrong about it, she must have had something else in mind."

Aleksander answered.

"No that's exactly what she had in mind."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

Snape didn't have time for this, Lily might be in danger.

"We have to find Lily and warn her, can any of you apparate back to the hotel?"

"No need mate, Lily's here."

"What?"

"When you didn't come back last night and were gone all day Lily got worried and asked us to find you. That's how we came by here. But we thought you went after Eloise and got caught not that you were the sacrifice."

Yanko was looking at him in a confused manner.

"Yesterday? How long has it been? No matter, where is she now? She's in danger if Eloise got away."

Almost as if to answer his question, a loud sound was heard from outside.

The group of boys ran up the stairs into the now deserted square in front of the Notre Dame cathedral. It was well into the evening and the lightly falling snow was illuminated by a bright full moon which cast long shadows and made the cathedral look dark and eerie. Eloise must have needed a full moon in order to complete the ritual. Eloise was backed up against the main doors of the church, nursing a bloody lip and struggling to keep upright. In the middle of the square was Professor Locus, holding his wand up and pointing it at Eloise as he held several pieces of paper clutched in his other, vein-riddled hand.

"Tell me you stupid little bitch!"

Professor Locus had a snarled look on his face and his voice echoed unnaturally loudly across the square.

"Tell me what spell you used or I'll end your pathetic little life right here and now."

Eloise simply laughed in response and glared at the professor. This infuriated him and he sent another round of spells at Eloise, who expertly knocked them away but she was injured, likely by the spell the Durmstrang boys had used, and she was slowing down considerably. Professor Locus had taken no notice of the new arrivals.

"When they put the potions together you used a spell to blend them, I know it. No one else in that room could have managed it. My life's work will not be stalled by some tramp! You will tell me!"

Professor Locus sent another spell Eloise's way and for a brief moment she shrieked and withered in pain.

"_The cruciatus!"_

Thought Snape. He had seen what it could do before.

"Why can't you just write things down like normal people?!"

When Professor Locus said this Snape remembered seeing him at the inn just before Eloise's room had been ransacked. How long had the professor been stalking Eloise, or better yet, suspecting her?

"Professor Locus what's going on?"

Snape's question made the professor whip around in surprise. This momentary distraction was as good as Eloise could hope for and she slipped through the church doors.

"Damn it! Come back here you wretch!"

But Professor Locus never managed to get halfway across the square before a curse flew at him and caused him to tumble head over heels and fall sprawled in the most awkward position on his back. Snape and the Durmstrang boys turned to see who had cast the curse only to see Lily, Radhika the Divination professor and a vaguely familiar woman all holding their wands out in front of them.

"Talk about girl power."

"Shut up Yanko."

Lily rolled her eyes and walked over to Snape.

"Sev! Goodness you've lost so much blood. Here I brought some blood replenishing potions, take this at once."

"Lily are you alright? Is everything okay? She didn't hurt you did she?"

"No, of course not. I can't believe she did this to you!"

"Nearly drove a dagger through my heart actually."

"No!"

"Yeah we saved him."

"Yanko go to the corner."

Yanko simply pouted in response and turned away.

"What happened? Was Professor Locus controlling her? Why did she do this?"

"Well, she… she was in love with you and… well… wanted me out of the way."

"She... what?"

At this both Radhika and the other woman looked at each other and smiled.

"We thought it might be something like that."

"You did?"

Snape turned in shock and looked at the two women who looked around awkwardly.

"Uhh, yeah… I can see the future remember, Seer and all."

"Oh right. Who are you again?"

Asked Snape motioning to the other woman.

"Me? I was your runes instructor, my name is Suzannah."

As she said her name she waved her arms in the air in a strange fashion and posed.

"Ohh… right… it was sort of dark and all so I couldn't really remember what you looked like."

"That is part of my mystique. Now onto the more pressing issue."

Radhika giggled slightly next to Suzannah who gave her a reproachful stare.

"Yeah I'd say we have a more pressing issue."

It was Aleksander who spoke and point upwards to the top tower of the cathedral. Standing there was Eloise and she was looking down, gathering the courage to…

"Noo! Eloise don't do it!"

Lily was cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling up at Eloise. As they stared Eloise took a step closer to the edge and everyone drew in a collective breath.

"Oh forget this, I'm not just going to stand here!"

Lily said as she sprinted across the courtyard and into the church. Snape looked back up at Eloise, who suddenly reminded him very much of his mother. She hadn't had it easy, Snape knew what that was like to be in Eloise's position, to be shunted and ignored. Then to add to all that being, well, it was a struggle Snape could only imagine.

Snape stood transfixed by panic and fear. How did things get to this point? He looked up at her, standing on the highest tower. Her tears fell with the light evening snow; they fell to the ground in front of Severus, soon followed by a few too many blood drops. Snape followed their path. The blood spatter made it seem as though the snow was blushing. Snape looked back up. There was nothing he could do, nothing he could say. Not even all the magic in the world could save her now. Her only hope was the figure running towards her and he could only watch from below and hope, hope that he wouldn't have to watch her die.

Lily shouted something to Eloise who shouted something back but Snape couldn't make out the words, the wind was sweeping the sound away from them. All of a sudden Lily lunged and grabbed Eloise off the ledge and they disappeared from view for a long time. So much so that Snape believed they were making their way down together but then, just as suddenly as they had disappeared, Eloise reappeared and jumped off the tower.

"Nooooooo..!"

As soon as the scream left Snape's throat the bells sounded out across the square, ringing in midnight. Eloise stopped falling and Snape saw that she had landed on a broom. Eloise pulled the broom upwards so that she was level with Lily and handed her something before she sped away on the broom, into the night sky beyond. Only the ringing of the bells broke the silence of the dark.

iiiiiiiiiii

It had been a long evening. After Lily came down from the tower and Professor Locus had regained consciousness, the whole troop along with Professors Radhika and Suzannah went back to the inn where the French Ministry of Magic authorities were waiting for them. Professor Locus was taken to the hospital as he had apparently taken some potions that had addled his mind. As for Eloise, Snape and Lily discovered that she was an orphan and now that she was of age she had been on her own. She was being considered a criminal at large even though Snape insisted he didn't want to pursue the matter; kidnapping was much too serious an offense for it to be swept under the rug. After several hours of investigations and a short trip to a nurse, Lily and Snape gladly retired to their rooms for some badly needed sleep.

The next morning, after saying goodbye to the Durmstrang boys and thanking them, the two groups each got on a different train so they could return to their respective schools. After a short train ride they took a portkey across the channel and to London at which point they went to King's Cross and got on the Hogwarts Express which was taking them back to school. Professor Slughorn was inhaling the lunch trolley in his cabin.

"Are you sure you didn't want to go home and see your mum and sister? You could have spent New Year's at home."

"No, I think I'd rather not, I don't think I want to face any more questions."

Lily answered with a slight blush on her face.

"I suppose we do need a rest after our 'holiday'. That has to have been the worst prize ever."

"Well, it wasn't all bad I guess."

Severus turned to Lily and asked,

"What do you think happened to Eloise?"

Lily sighed and looked out the window.

"Well, I asked in the morning and they said they still hadn't found her and all of her belongings were gone. I suppose she's hiding out somewhere. An orphan on top of everything else, it really doesn't seem fair when you think about it. And those awful girls, you should have heard the way they were talking about her."

Snape lowered his head. As terrible as some of the things she had done had been, Snape couldn't help but identify with with Eloise, hadn't he himself done some stupid and reckless things? He knew what it was like to feel alone and unappreciated, knew how much one could long for someone to understand and care about them.

"What did she say to you up on the tower?"

Lily blushed even more deeply and shifted her sitting position.

"A fair few things."

"Such as?"

"Nothing all that important, but she did ask me to burn the letters."

"What letters?"

"The ones Professor Locus stole from her room."

Lily reached into her bag as she said this and pulled out several rumpled sheets of paper. She laid them on her leg and flattened them out. Snape was about to ask why she still had them and hadn't destroyed them as Eloise asked when Lily added,

"She also gave me this."

Lily pulled out a dagger in a sheath from her bag and handed it to Severus. There was no doubt it was the same one Eloise had used to cut Snape's forearms during the ritual, there was even some of his dried blood left on it. Even though the wounds were gone and there were no scars, Snape could still feel the stinging sometimes, although it was likely all in his head.

"But I thought this belonged to Aleksander, why did you keep it?"

"Because Eloise was quite insistent that I do not give it back to them."

"But why?"

Lily pulled the dagger out of its sheath and Snape winced slightly. Lily held the dagger's hilt in the light and Snape saw the etching he had glimpsed during the ritual. They were the same ones he and Lily had seen all over Paris, the triangle, circle and line.

"So they were the ones who had spread that graffiti all over the place. But still Lily if it belonged to them, even if it is cursed or sketchy or something, you should have given it back. I owe them my life after all."

Even as he said this though Snape remembered Eloise's hands trembling hands and the way the dagger lowered slightly just before...

"I had a good reason not to."

Lily flattened the letters from before on her leg once more before handing them to Severus to read. Snape grabbed the first letter and stopped in shock after the first line.

_Dear Mr. Lattimer,_


	38. Something New

Chapter 38: Something New

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

iiiiiiiiiii

"Lily how is this possible?"

Snape sat shocked, mouth agape. Lily simply shrugged.

"How did she know we were looking into his death?"

"Don't know that she did."

"Well why didn't you ask her?"

"I didn't know the contents of the letters until I took them from Professor Locus while he was being treated. Still don't really know their contents actually."

Severus looked down at the letters and skimmed the rest of the first page. Other than the first line everything was a jumble of English, French, Latin, runes and a fair few other scripts and languages Severus couldn't identify off the top of his head.

"I tried a bunch of different translation spells but it still doesn't make much sense. I suspect it's some sort of code. I wouldn't expect any less from Eloise."

Snape ignored the touch of reverence in Lily's voice as she spoke about Eloise, had Lily forgotten she tried to kill him?

"Well it's important that we figure this out, unless of course you've decided to drop the investigation?"

Lily sat up with renewed vigor.

"Absolutely not, we have to find out what happened. We can't just sit back and do nothing."

"But it'll get even more dangerous Lily, you should think about it a bit."

"I've thought about it plenty Severus, I have no intentions of turning back now."

"Ever stubborn and proud Gryffindors."

"Ever hesitant and calculating Slytherins."

"Touché."

This made Lily smile brightly which caused Severus to have a serious case of déjà vu. Snape smiled back and then looked down at the letters before handing them back to Lily, who put them away. There was no point in trying to figure anything else out while on the train. Snape sat back and watched the dreary British winter landscape pass by. It felt surreal to be going back to school after everything that had happened.

iiiiiiiiiii

When they arrived at Hogsmeade Station, there were only two carriages waiting for them. Severus was used to ignoring the staring eyes of the winged horses by now, but for a moment it almost seemed as though Lily had locked eyes with one as well. The horses always created a dreadful feeling of foreboding but that grey winter day, the feeling seemed to swallow Severus as he and Lily made their way towards the castle. He couldn't understand it really, but next to him Lily gave a small shiver and he knew she felt it too.

When they arrived at the entrance Snape turned to Lily and asked,

"Well we have a few more days before New Year's and then start of term. What do you reckon we should do?"

"I don't know about you, but I have a ton of homework to get through. With being sick and everything else that happened, well, I'm far more behind than I'd like."

"I have some homework to do as well."

"Yeah right, you're just saying that for my benefit aren't you?"

"No I really do, I have a few essays, plus a potion I'm working on."

"Well how about we get lunch first and then maybe a game of Gobstones?"

"You're on Lily."

She smiled and the pair headed straight into the Great Hall where the house tables were scattered with a barely any students. The few who were there turned their heads to see who the new arrivals were. Upon seeing Severus and Lily all the students gathered up into clumps at their tables and began whispering. Most of these students were younger, with only a Ravenclaw in their year and a Hufflepuff in 7th year so Snape was a bit shocked at how openly they were gawking at him. Lily seemed to notice Snape's discomfort.

"Seems silly for us to sit by ourselves at the house tables, let's just sit together."

"I don't know Lily, seems like a bad idea given to mood. I think Potter would blow a blood vessel if he found out I sat at the Gryffindor table."

"I suppose my mudblood status would offend the Slytherins too then huh?"

"Lily don't say that… don't... you know… use that word."

"So it's okay for me to hear the word from others but not say it myself?"

"It isn't okay either way."

"Well how about neutral territory then? Hufflepuff?"

As much as Snape had always dreaded the possibility of being sorted into Hufflepuff and having to sit at that table every day as a child, it didn't seem like a big deal now that it meant getting to eat with Lily. As the two of them sat down, the three Hufflepuffs at the table including the 7th year all slide to the far end, as far as possible from Snape, but no one actually said anything to them. It was an awkward lunch and Snape was happy when it was over and they made their way to the Room of Requirement for a game of Gobstones which Snape easily won.

"You really do need more practice Lily, especially if you want to start the Gobstones Club up again."

Snape was half laughing as he said this because Lily's face was permanently stuck in a sour expression, her nose crinkled.

"What I need is some of that _afterGob_!"

"I haven't got any."

"Liar. No matter, room… some _afterGob_ please."

Lily looked around expectantly but nothing happened and Snape wondered if the room had a sense of humour. Lily stalked off into the bathroom but popped right back out to show Snape the bottle of _afterGob_ that was waiting for her on the sink. _Stupid room_.

The rest of the day was spent doing homework with Lily becoming more and more frantic as she piled up her backed up homework. When they called it a day Lily had gotten through more work than Severus but was still behind by a fair deal more. As Snape was walking down toward the dungeons he walked by two girls who actually ran away when they saw him but then stopped when they were far away enough and started whispering.

He wasn't sure of it had gotten worse or it was simply more irksome since he had so little to distract himself with, but Snape was seriously considering sending some nasty acne curses their way. Thinking of how Lily would react, Snape thought better of it but gave a particularly nasty snarl in their direction before going to his room.

iiiiiiiiiii

On New Year's Eve Lily and Snape found themselves once more in their usual hideout, this time trying to crack Eloise's code as Lily had satisfyingly smacked her last backed assignment onto the completed pile the previous night.

"The code is likely something very simple that the two of them agreed on beforehand but it seems they were smart enough to destroy the letter containing the code."

"Yes it seems so. I've been thinking about it Severus, and I don't think there's much point in trying to just figure out the code, it would be better if we found out why and for how long they were communicating."

"Maybe they are related somehow."

"No I doubt she would call someone in her family 'Mr', Sev."

"He still may have been a family friend or acquaintance, do you know anything about her parents?"

"I know their names but little else. Hang on, maybe we can cross-reference their names with French Ministry records, it might tell us how they died and if they have any living relatives."

"How exactly do we get our hands on French Ministry records?"

"All wizards, of age that is, have access to the public Ministry archives which have the foreign Ministry records of all countries with which we have naturalized relations. You can go and check it out when you take your apparation test."

Lily gave a small pout when she said this.

"You're not still hung up that I get to take my test 3 weeks before you are you? Its only 3 weeks Lily!"

"Still you'll be of age and can just pop down to Hogsmeade whenever you feel like it. It isn't fair! Why can't everyone born the same year be considered of age once the new year comes? It just makes more sense for classmates that way."

"Look if you were born in December or something I'd understand, but it's only a few weeks, not even a month, be a bit patient Lily. Geez!"

"Easy for you to say, born the first day of the year."

Snape rolled his eyes at Lily's cute grumbling.

"Well at least people aren't openly running away from you in the halls."

"Actually they are."

"What?"

Lily sighed and cleared the desk of the letters and other reference materials, putting them away, as she continued answering Snape.

"People are avoiding me as well. I've overheard a few of their whispered conversations and it seems I've become rather unpopular."

"Why? Is it because of Mary?"

"Partially, I mean she did make quite a scene before leaving but somehow someone let slip that I've been having problems with potions, you know. There are also suspicions that I'm under the _Imperius_, no doubt Potter dreamed that up to explain why I prefer your company. I think for the most part people have a lot of questions and they got their answers from Potter and Mary rather than the two of us and so their warped versions of what happened stand. I tried to convince them otherwise but I don't know if I've gotten anywhere."

Lily's face darkened and she ran her hands through her hair in frustration the sat up quickly.

"Let's forget about that for the moment huh Sev? Let's have a game of exploding snap and then turn on the New Year's countdown on the radio."

"Wish we had some champagne."

"Oh but we do and plenty of firewhisky and some spiced port wine."

Lily opened a drawer of the desk which was stocked full of various alcohols.

"Lily are you planning on replacing your blood with alcohol?"

Lily looked at Severus very seriously and said,

"Yes."

Then she smiled widely and pulled out a pack of cards.

iiiiiiiiiii

"Come on Sev! _Don't go breakin ma heart_!"

"I am not singing Lily."

"But it's a duet! _Oh honey when you knocked on my door, oooooh I gave you ma key_!"

"Lily you are a horrible singer"

"I am the most fantastic, elastic singer EVER! _Oooooooooh oh I gave you ma heart_!"

"Speaking of keys, since I'll be of age in less than half an hour, we should look into putting protections on the house. Professor Dumbledore will keep control of it, I think, until we are both of age but we should start seriously thinking about what we are going to do."

"Yet another advantage of having your birthday before mine! Rub it in some more why don't you! Oh I LOVE this song! _You can dance, you can dance, having the time of your life! Ooooo See that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen!_"

"Please don't sing anymore Lily."

"Fine I'll just dance then!"

Being a muggle, Lily knew all the clothing and dance trends and it seemed muggles were into bright colours, songs with strong beats and suggestive dancing. Lily looked wonderful in her green flowered dress that hit her mid-thigh, her hair ballooning out behind a headband. As much as Lily was tone deaf she danced fairly well, even though she was obviously pretty drunk.

"_You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17_! I'll be 17, just like the song, but not for a few more weeks though!"

Snape rolled his eyes.

"Is this really one of the top muggle songs of the year?"

Lily didn't answer but continued dancing until the song ended at which point she plopped down on the couch next to Snape, slightly out of breath. The Room of Requirement had decorated itself, or so Snape assumed, for the occasion with streamers and small disco balls. It was actually nice, tasteful but still cheesy enough for Lily to enjoy.

"Sev! Sev! Let's do Bohemian Rhapsody together!"

"No."

"But, but, but I can't do the manly man voices! Pleeeeeease?"

"Shh Lily, the top news stories of the year are on."

Lily conceded defeat and listened to the radio announcer who had a nasally voice and thick accent.

"_Well that was the Muggle Top 10 songs of the year! You're tuned into Muggle New Year, celebrate the New Year, Muggle Style! Now it's time for the top muggle news stories of the year! The 1976 Olympics held in Montreal, Canada, were the first in the Commonwealth country which still boasts close ties with Great Britain. Her Majesty __Queen __Elizabeth II__ opened the games in which __The Princess Anne__ competed as part of the national riding team. Great Britain finished with 13 medals include 3 gold. Highlights also include the gold medal shocker in women's gymnastics when Romania's Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10.00 which was displayed as a 1.00 on the scoreboard which had only 3 places. It seems muggle technology still needs some work and on top of that their music hasn't greatly improved although two of the top acts of the year were from right here in Great Britain. 1976 has been an exciting year indeed now let us turn to Waswalda for the countdown to midnight! Waswalda?"_

"Didn't mention much about the tensions in Ireland."

"Yes, yes, it seems the official line everywhere is: let's pretend everything is fine and then it will magically become fine. The muggle newspapers write plenty on it but never anything really important. It's the same, always the same, everyone thinks the same way really; muggle or magic."

"Right you are Lily."

"Let's not talk about sad things Sev, let's be happy! Happy! To a Happy New Year!"

Lily poured out two shots of firewhisky and handed one to Severus, who put his down and tried to take Lily's as well.

"I think you've had enough for tonight Lily."

"I have NOT! It's New Year's! The one night you can really drink until it's indecent. Actually this is your fault!"

"How exactly do you figure that?"

"Well you haven't been drinking your share so I had to drink that too. If you drank a little more then I could drink a little less!"

"That sounds like drunken logical if I ever heard any. You know I don't like drinking."

"Oh come now Severus, you aren't going to become your father just because you had a couple drinks on New Year's."

Severus knew Lily didn't mean anything by it and she was too drunk to be thinking straight but the remark rubbed him the wrong way. He felt a rush of anger swell up inside him and rise to his cheeks.

"Fine then, I'll drink!"

Snape grabbed the bottle of firewhisky out of Lily's hand and chugged down a quarter of the bottle before slamming it back down on the table.

"Happy now?"

"That depends? Do you feel better? Loosened up any?"

"Not really."

"Then I am not happy."

Snape crossed his arms and turned away from Lily.

"Oh don't you go getting into Mr. Grumpy mode on me!"

Snape remained turned away.

"Come on Sev, go on, try and be festive for once! Here, have a sparkler, it's almost midnight!"

Reluctantly Snape took the sparkler Lily drunkenly held up for him. It was a very long and tall, twisted into several loops and curls, with different colours on different sections. Lily had an identical one in her left hand while she held her wand out in her right hand.

"These go for a minute so when it's a minute to midnight or _minuit_ as the French would say, hee hee, minute to _minuit_ it sound almost the same, right, yes then I'll light them. I wonder what Eloise is doing."

Severus looked over at Lily's sad expression and he became even more angry and sullen that she was thinking about and missing someone who almost killed him, even if she was easy to pity. Yet at the same time Snape also wondered what Eloise was doing, how she was managing to avert the authorities. If she had been spotted or caught they would have been notified, for security reasons. Yet she was managing somehow, with little money and no one to turn to. It was enviable and moreso Snape was thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would be his fate one day and he should be as prepared. Snape was pulled out of his thoughts by Lily's excited exclamations.

"Alright just over a minute to midnight! Time to light these!"

Lily leaned over and lit the two sparklers with her wand and they burst into flame and sparks of different colours. Snape could hear the radio announcer with the winey voice counting down.

"_45 seconds now, get that champagne out everyone! Bring everyone out from wherever they are merrymaking! Just 30 seconds, 30 seconds to the New Year!"_

Snape looked over at Lily and saw her looking back at him. The sparklers continued to crackle and burst into multicoloured light in front of them. They shone on Lily's face and reflected in her eyes. As they looked at each other time seemed to slow incredibly.

"_10…9….8….7_"

Lily was mouthing the seconds but continued to look at Severus, her eyes never once leaving his.

"_6…5…4….3….2_"

The sparklers gave a slightly premature final burst which temporarily blinded both Severus and Lily and their gaze was finally broken. Snape could hear the cheers of the radio announcer and others in the studio.

"_HAPPY NEW YEAR 1977! HEALTH AND HAPPINESS TO EVERYONE!_"

Snape blinked several times and his vision slowly came back, the dark room coming into focus once more. As it did, so did Lily who was closer to Severus than he remembered. She brought her lips close to his ear and whispered,

"Happy birthday Sev."

Then she suddenly looked both sad and frightened, or so Snape guessed because he only caught a glimpse of her expression before Lily pressed her lips onto his. Lily's lips tasted like champagne but were warm and left a slight tingling sensation on Snape's lips as she pulled away. Lily looked up at Severus and gave a sleepy smile and said,

"Oh, and Happy New Year."

Before falling forward onto Snape's chest and passing out. The sparkler gave one last spurt of light and then fell from Snape's hand.


	39. Attention

Chapter 39: Attention

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: ** shine_lots**, thank you I'm glad you liked them and please review again! ** imaginexthat** ah well my view of divination is that most wizards have a little ability in them and that even without training it'll manifest itself sporadically, so I don't know if that actually answers your question. **mldcmx **Your wonderful review made ME swoon! Don't worry you didn't write too much! Please write as much as you like! I'm so glad you are enjoying it! As for my sarcastic insults, they come from long, bitter, Canadian winter nights spent doing meaningless research and yelling at awful books…

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Since New Year's, Snape had woken every morning with a slight tingling sensation on his lips. It seemed the more he suppressed his desire to talk about what happened, and perhaps repeat it, the worse the morning psychosomatic symptom became. As if guys needed any other awkward morning issues.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Snape had to deal with a definite shift in attitude towards him from all sides. The night before the first day of school all his roommates showed up together, Snape could sense right away that it was no coincidence.

Wilkes, Avery and Rosier slowly entered the room and closed the door behind them then stood still facing Snape who got off his bed and stood right in front of the group, all of whom he was taller than.

"Alright Snape?"

Avery finally said after a tense standoff that lasted several minutes.

"Yeah. You?"

Avery nodded back and Snape turned and sat down on his bed, the tension had eased somewhat but was far from dissipated. Avery opened his mouth and almost said something but he reconsidered and they all silently changed and went to bed, they wouldn't speak to each other for many days.

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The next morning Snape went down for breakfast, groggy and annoyed. Not only was it the first day of classes but it was also a bitterly cold and eerily dark January morning, clouds covered the sky as far as the eye could see. As he was walking up the stairs towards the Entrance Hall, Snape slipped and tumbled down the stairs, stopping only when he hit the corridor wall. He laid in shock for almost a minute; the wind had been knocked out of him. A few other students, including a couple of Hufflepuffs in his year, passed Snape but while all of them glared, no one helped him. Slowly he got up off the floor and assessed the damage. Nothing was broken but he had skinned his knees and elbows, not to mention he could tell he'd have some serious bruises later. Snape quickly cast a spell over his cuts and siphoned off the blood, then mended his robes as best he could. Certainly he'd been in worse shape before. When he walked back up the stairs, he held onto the railing and climbed slowly noting how sore he was already. When he reached the spot where he fell, Snape noticed that both the railing and stairs had been covered in a slippery oil-like substance. Snape shook his head; he had to be more careful of Peeves' pranks.

Snape walked across the Entrance Hall and looked up at the hourglasses that saw Gryffindor and Slytherin now well ahead of even typically high performing Ravenclaw. Snape remembered what Lily had told him about the assembly Dumbledore held the last day of classes while they were away. She had heard from Alice that Dumbledore had awarded Snape 60 points, Lily 30 points and Potter, 10. As usual he gave a less than satisfactory summary of what happened in the Chamber, obviously both to not alarm the students and keep the details from reaching unsavory ears. The details still got out along with several gross exaggerations, many of which Snape suspected were created or at least heavily propped up by Potter. While both Lily and Potter were surrounded by people asking questions, no one approached Snape, not even from his own house, although he did notice that a louder-than-usual buzz of whispers seemed to follow him around.

While Potter was greatly enjoying the attention and the fact that it was focused on both him and Lily together, Lily was permanently annoyed by the pestering. She had given her and Snape's side of the story the first night back in the Gryffindor common room but few people took notice of the contradictions to Potter's much more riveting adventure tale. She knew it didn't matter how loudly or often she told people the truth, people wanted to believe the story as Potter had told it and he told it well.

"The more I try to say anything, the more people seem to think Mary was right and a victim in all this. Frankly I feel like I'm just digging a bigger hole for myself. It's better to keep quiet."

Lily said after breakfast the first day back and keep quiet was exactly what she did. Even when someone started what Snape considered Mary-worthy-level-of-malicious rumours that Lily had spent the entire French trip either sleeping with Snape or various men for money, or both, she just rolled her eyes and walked away.

Still Snape decided it was best they weren't seen together as often because he also noticed that the buzz of whispers grew louder when they were. Far from bothering him, it was the way the Slytherins reacted to them being together that Snape felt was the most cause for concern, all things considered it was probably better to keep a low profile for the time being.

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Later that week, Snape was slowly and painfully making his way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. On top of his earlier injuries that he sustained from his fall down the stairs, Snape had also burned himself in Potions class when his fire inexplicably flared up around his new cauldron that Lily had given him as a birthday present and Potter had caught him with a particularly nasty _Oppugno_ curse that caused a desk to hit him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him for the second time in a few days.

As he approached from down the hall he heard Sirius Black's voice echo above the general rabble.

"Come on Fateen, I mean honestly, everyone can see you secretly fancy me. Why bother playing hard to get?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Black draw nearer to Fateen and whispered in her ear,

"Oh I think you do."

Fateen giggled and Black's face broke out into a smile. Snape, who was now just behind the group but remained in a shadow in the hopes of not being seen and therefore of being left alone, grimaced at Black's disgusting display. He was surprised however, to see Lupin's face echoing a milder version of the same grimace. Perhaps he fancied Fateen as well but wouldn't or felt he couldn't compete with Black. Peter on the other hand was smiling wistfully as he watched the exchange.

Potter was a little further away speaking to Alice and Frank, only pieces of the conversation floated over to Snape but he gathered Frank was talking over his career prospects with Alice and Potter was getting advice himself. They seemed to be leaning towards Auror training and Magical Law Enforcement which made Snape all sorts of nervous and nauseated. What kind of gross irony would put a giant bully like Potter into a position of authority where he could further bully people? Really, he should send the Minister for Magic a letter of warning about him. Snape didn't have much time to ponder the problem as a familiar scent wafted down the hall and a patter of footsteps echoed, Lily was here.

"Hey Sev!"

Lily stopped right behind him and smiled widely. Suddenly all the other talking stopped and everyone turned to look at the two of them.

"Alright Lily?"

Snape was shooting daggers at Potter with his eyes but James ignored him and continued to address Lily.

"Yes I'm fine James, thank you for asking."

"Did you finish the essay?"

"I did."

"You think you'll need this class for, you know, what comes after school?"

"You mean will my job require a NEWT in Defense? It might, I haven't really made my final decision for what I'm going to do, still looking around at some different options."

"Well, I think it's an important class considering the, uh, recent atmosphere of things. You know, a girl really has to be smart about the choices she makes around this age, they can really impact what her future life will be like. You'll be coming of age in less than a fortnight, I think maybe there are some things you ought to reconsider."

"Reconsider what exactly?"

Peter joined the conversation.

"Some of the company you keep for starters, bloody filth."

"That's rich coming from a dirty little rat."

Peter narrowed his eyes but didn't respond. James and Lily held each others' gaze for a few moments then Lily turned her head away. James responded by physically turning away from Lily and Snape, and as though they were all connected to him, everyone else followed suite and did the same. Alice briefly glanced back at Lily with a look of pity but then the door opened and everyone rushed in for class. Snape had a feeling it was going to be a long week.

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The week and the next certainly did not go well for Severus. He didn't even have time to heal from one injury or accident before another one followed. More than a few were due to Potter and company but others made him think he might have done something to get on the wrong side of Peeves. It wasn't just him, a couple of other students were victims of mishaps including a 1st year whose pants literally caught fire when he lied to Professor Flitwick about his homework. It was also suspicious that Peeves was largely absent from the scenes of his crimes as he loved indulging in the chaos he caused, or in fact any chaos even if it wasn't his doing.

Despite the fact that Peeves hadn't made himself visible, one couldn't be too careful these days. So Snape was illusioned and sneaking carefully to the hospital wing to grab a few supplies and potions to deal with his injuries. That last thing he wanted was to give Potter the satisfaction of sending him to the nurse, worse he didn't want Lily to worry. Potter had been particularly insufferable the last few days. With Lily's birthday quickly approaching, Potter seemed to be attempting to injure him so badly as to ensure he couldn't celebrate with Lily. Snape wasn't going to let that happen though, he had something really special planned and Potter sure as heck wasn't going to ruin it with a few spells and booby traps.

As Snape tiptoed into the hospital wing he was surprised to see a set of curtains around a bed and a series of shadows that suggested the bed was occupied. Still illusioned, he slowly crept over to the bed and pushed the curtains back slightly so he could see who was there and in what state. To his great shock he found Lily in a white lace gown, lying down on her back looking flush and uncomfortable. Snape disillusioned himself and pushed the curtain further back, the sound made Lily look up and gasp.

"Sev! You scared me!"

"What happened?"

Lily laid back down and closed her eyes, looking exhausted.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

"Have you been taking potions again?"

"Absolutely not! Honestly have a little faith in me Sev."

"Well you have that groggy look. Why are you in here?"

"A little mishap at my surprise birthday party."

"What do you mean?"

"Well James was so upset that he didn't get to see me during the Holidays that he felt it was necessary to throw me a surprise birthday party, forgetting… apparently… how tense and awkward things have been between me and the rest of the house. So there I was opening a significantly smaller pile of presents than last year, while everyone else looked on awkwardly and ate finger foods. I get to a small, unmarked, poorly wrapped box and sort of ended up ripping the box in half because I couldn't get the wrappings open properly and out fell a necklace."

"A necklace? What kind?"

"The cursed kind. It fell on my lap and slid to the floor. It never actually touched my skin but the lace hem of my dress was thin enough that it had a nasty effect on me. I had some sort of fit and Potter called Professor McGonagall who brought me here. Just woke up an hour ago."

"What did McGonagall say? Did you find out who might have sent it?"

"Oh I know exactly who sent it but I can't prove it."

"Who? Him?"

Snape said that last word in a small whisper.

"No, well I don't think he was involved anyways. I'm pretty sure it was Mary."

"Mary? Really? Why do you think it was her?"

"I'd know her crappy wrapping skills anywhere. I've gotten enough presents from her to recognize it."

"Well someone could have used that to frame her."

"I suppose but considering how continually hostile she has been towards me, I wouldn't count her out. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if she takes credit for it."

"I never pegged Mary to be so dangerous."

"Ah well, I should have expected it. I've seen what she's capable of when she's angry. I'll have to be more careful, seems it's been one thing after another since the semester started."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh little things here and there, chairs breaking, odd accidents, mishaps in class. Maybe I'm just becoming paranoid."

"No, I don't think you are Lily."

Snape told Lily about all the strange accidents and mishaps he'd been experiencing and seen since the start of term.

"Then it can't be a coincidence, someone has it out for us."

"But who could it be then? Mary?"

"Honestly, considering the reception we've been getting at school and what happened in the Chamber, a list of who it might not be would be shorter."

"Well it isn't just us."

"But they all seem to happen around us don't they? I lent that 1st year my quill and that's what caught fire and a fair few of the 'accidents' seem to happen near the entrances to the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms. Haven't you noticed that Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs have been oddly spared?"

"Maybe the two houses are pranking each other."

"And what, we're the most hated in our houses?"

"We might be Lily."

Even as he said it, the realization caused goosebumps to form all over Snape's body. Something had to be done.

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Snape could almost hear James Bond music playing over the scene. He was sneaking Lily out of the castle about an hour before midnight on the day before her birthday. The dramatic mood was enhanced by the heavy snow, hail and the odd claps of thunder and greenish lightning that filled the sky. It was eerie but Snape wasn't going to let even a freak thundersnow storm stop his plans. Snape wondered if the system came from across the North Sea, if the storm had caused the tragic plane crash in Sweden that was in the newspaper yesterday. He enchanted a giant umbrella over them as he shakily got onto the broomstick behind Lily. He would have preferred walking but it would take forever in this weather.

They passed the greenhouses which were covered in heavy wet snow and were being assaulted by hail that bounced right off as though made of rubber. Severus suspected that Herbology had been cancelled in order to prepare for the storm. Snape had thus spent his afternoon taking a nap in preparation for this nighttime excursion. He had been overly focused in Ancient Runes in the morning, as he had since the term started, desperate for any piece of information that might help them figure out Eloise's letters, so much so that he dreampt he was being chased by giant runes.

Snape had planned on blindfolding Lily but in this weather they couldn't see more than a little way in front of them anyways. Snape had to shout directions to Lily but they finally made it to their destination. Lily smiled brightly when she saw where they were. It was a pity that the welcome mat was wet but it still proudly proclaimed that this was 'Severus and Lily's House'.

"Oh Sev! This is absolutely wonderful!"

Lily exclaimed as she stepped into the house and took off her coat. Snape happily took her coat and put it on the coat hanger, the lone piece of furniture on the first floor.

"I thought what better place to celebrate your birthday than the house that will be officially half yours in less than an hour."

"Well I certainly can't think of a better place Sev."

"This isn't really the surprise though, let's go upstairs."

Lily excitedly followed Severus up the stairs but looked confused when he stopped her from turning into one of the upstairs bedrooms.

"No, not here, we're going way, way upstairs."

Snape led Lily into the attic where candles were floating in midair and a chest was sitting at one end of the space.

"Sev, what is this?"

"It's your birthday present."

"You made me chest!?"

"Well it's not just the chest, it's also what's inside."

"Can I open it?"

"It isn't midnight yet!"

Oh please, please, please?"

"Oh alright, what's half an hour anyways?"

Giddy with anticipation Lily opened the lid of the chest. Inside was a collection of things no muggle was likely to ever see. Among other things were a set of house elf-made crochet quilts, a wizard's chess set, a book of wizard children's stories and several packs of exploding snap.

"Oh Sev, it is just, I can't believe it."

"I figured, you know, since you grew up in a muggle house there were so many things you missed and didn't get to experience. Most girls have a trunk filled with things they're you know, supposed to take with them when they get married and stuff. I thought since you have a house, you should have a trunk too. I know there isn't much inside or anything but…"

"Oh no, Sev it is just amazing! And so thoughtful. I, I mean all I got you for your birthday was a cauldron."

"Well it was a very nice cauldron, I mean I probably won't need a new one for the rest of my life, it couldn't have been cheap. Besides, that wasn't really all you… well…"

"Oh no it's a horrible cauldron, it flared up the first time you used it!"

"Actually I reckon that was Potter or Black now that I think about it."

"Well I say we try some of this stuff out! Here help me with this quilt, we'll sit on one and use the other to keep warm."

"It is rather cold in here, imagine it would be even worse without the candles."

"Well I doubt Dumbledore is keeping it heated for us."

"I suppose you're right Lily."

As Lily unfolded the quilt on the floor, Snape pulled a bottle of wine and two glasses out of a bag and poured some out. He handed Lily one of the glasses and stared at her brightly beaming face in the soft candlelight, goodness she was beautiful. He felt like the luckiest guy on earth just being able to share this moment with her. Suddenly, a set of bells were heard from somewhere far, far away.

"That's midnight. Happy birthday Lily."

"Thank you Sev."

The two of them clinked their glasses together and drank some of the wine. Lily huddled closer to Severus under the quilt and put down her wine glass, without taking her eyes off him. Lily took a deep breath and started to say something but suddenly, a loud bang frightened them.

"Goodness gracious! What was that?"

"I don't know Lily stay here."

Snape got out from under the quilt, reluctantly, and tried to find the source of the noise. He needn't look too long as another bang was heard coming from the small round window on the other side of the attic. Snape went over to the window and to his great surprise saw a soaking wet owl furiously trying to stay in the air amid the storm. Snape quickly opened the window and allowed the owl to squeeze inside. The poor creature looked ready to fall over and was shaking from cold.

"What in the world! An owl? Who would send anything out in this weather, honestly. Bring it over here Sev, we'll dry it off and give it some water, not much else we can do."

Lily wrapped the thankful owl in the quilt and dried it off then allowed it to rest and drink a bit of water while Snape worked to unravel the soggy letters tied to the bird. Despite the state of them, Snape could see one was addressed to Lily and the other to himself. Snape started a small flame at the end of his wand and very, very careful worked to dry them off.

After half an hour, and a game of exploding snap, the owl had regained its energy but Lily wouldn't let it leave in the storm so it fluttered about the room, perching on an attic beams above them.

"Think these are dry enough to open Severus?"

"I reckon so. They must be important if someone sent an owl out in this weather."

Lily opened hers first and gasped at the sender.

"It's from Eloise! It's, I think it's a birthday card!"

The first line was in code, Snape suspected the same code system she used in her letters to George Lattimer. Did she expect that they would have figured it out? Did she know they had kept the letters? Was it actually extremely simple and they were just overlooking it? Luckily the rest of the letter was in English.

_I hope this reaches you in time Lily, I scolded the owl to make sure. Don't worry if it looks tired, it went a long way but it will be properly rewarded. I know you'd be worried about it. I just wanted to congratulate you on your coming of age birthday. I hope this gift is useful in the future._

_Much love,_

_Eloise_

"Gift? I didn't see a package did you?"

Lily and Snape looked up at the owl who looked down at Snape suspiciously.

"Did Eloise tell you to give it to me when I was alone?"

The owl hooted in response.

"Well don't worry, Severus is a trusted friend you can give it to me."

Still somewhat apprehensive the owl nonetheless flew down and lifted its wing where a soggy package was almost camouflaged into its fur.

"What did Eloise send you that she felt she needed to be so secretive about?"

"I don't know."

She reached for it and Snape had a sudden urge to stop her, perhaps for fear it was sent by the same person who sent the cursed necklace but she was already undoing it. Out of the package fell a thin golden wristwatch.

"Wow this is really pretty."

"It's tradition to get someone coming of age a wristwatch as a gift but I thought that was a British custom."

"Perhaps Eloise looked into it then."

"She must really like you."

Lily blushed slightly but put the watch on. It was so small and fragile looking and inside the hollow edges, tiny grains of sand were moving, seemingly of their own accord.

"Well open yours Sev."

"Oh right."

He had nearly forgotten that he also received a letter. He slowly peeled off the envelope and opened up the letter. Unlike Lily's however other than the words _Dear Snape_, everything else was in code, just like the letters.

"I guess she expected us to know the code."

"Maybe, or maybe she's just taunting us."

"Oh honestly Sev, don't think that way."

Lily called down the owl.

"I'm going to take you back to the castle and you can leave in the morning. I'll have a letter for you to take back to Eloise."

The owl stuck its head up and shook it.

"You don't honestly mean to go back into that storm do you?"

"No Lily, I think it means that it was a one way trip, we can't send anything back."

"Why not?"

"Because Eloise is supposed to be in hiding, maybe she just can't risk it."

"I suppose you're right Severus. Still I would have liked to ask her about the letters."

"Let's not forget that she might be dangerous, you ought to be careful with that watch."

"She isn't going to hurt me Sev."

"You don't know that, she nearly killed me remember?"

"I know but she was so confused, in a panic. I don't think she'd do anything to us but fine I'll be careful. Enough strange things have happened these last couple of weeks so I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Despite what she said Lily seemed to be in a bad mood all of a sudden, turning away from Snape as she packed the quilts back into the trunk. The night ended very differently than Severus had hoped.

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Snape grumpily made his way back to his room from the entrance hall, illusioned in case anyone was doing round through the hallways. When he stepped into his bedroom and disillusioned himself he saw all three of his roommates awake and looking concerned. Avery stood up and asked,

"Where were you?"

"Out, why do you care?"

"We thought maybe… nevermind I guess."

"If you have something to say to me just say it already."

"Alright Snape. There's something I want to ask you. What really happened?"

Rosier asked as he started pacing up and down the room

"You mean during my vacation?"

"Don't play stupid with us. You know exactly what we mean."

"Actually I don't."

"You saw the Dark Lord!"

Rosier shouted as he slammed his fist against the wall.

"No, I saw some kid's memory, I didn't know who or what he was."

"You have no idea what you've done!"

Wilkes said as he looked at Snape with a mixture of fear and excitement.

"I kept Lily alive."

"That bitch isn't worth it, she isn't worth anything!"

Avery yelled as he walked over to Snape and grabbed him by the collar.

"Let go of me or you'll regret it."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be. Muggle or Magic, I'll take you down."

Avery let go of him and stepped back and began pacing as well, his face red with fury, his breathes sharp.

"He is angry, very angry."

Said Wilkes in a small voice and he flinched slightly.

"Is that what this is about? You're being punished for what happened?"

Snape could relate, he was still being punished by Lily for what they did, for her father's death.

"Not as much as Malfoy and…"

Wilkes trailed off as Rosier gave him a stern look. He then turned his eyes to Snape.

"You've been marked for death mate, no two ways about it. If we don't do it, someone else will or he'll do it himself. You have even less protection now that you are both of age so there's no hiding and you'll never be forgiven for what happened. Even if you didn't know what you were doing. We told him you didn't, that you'd never have done it if you knew."

"So you're here to kill me? Is that it?"

"No, we are here to warn you, both of you, about what is coming."

"Both?"

"You didn't really think he'd let the mudblood live did you?"

Snape felt as though all the air had gone from his lungs. He was supposed to be protecting her and now he had gotten her marked for death by Lord Voldemort. The close calls, the cursed gift… they suddenly made a whole lot of frightening sense. They wouldn't be safe even inside the school, not unless something was done, and Snape could only think of one thing.

Snape looked at his roommates and said,

"I need you to do me a favour."


	40. Twisted Tongues Part I

Chapter 40: Twisted Tongues Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: The next chapter (ch. 41) will be an anniversary chapter to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the day the first chapter was published! Thank you to all the readers who have been with me all this time and to all the new readers as well! I can't believe the story has reached over 150,000 words without being close to done and 55,000 views! I hope you are all enjoying the story and that it helps the pain of closing J.K. Rowling's wondrous 7th book. The anniversary chapter is not part of the main storyline but you can take it as is if you wish because it won't clash anywhere. It will follow a similar structure to the last anniversary chapter (ch. 21).

Following will be chapter 42. Twisted Tongues Part II!

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January proved to be a dark and grey month both figuratively, with regular news of airplane crashes along with other disasters and also literally, as a constant dreary cloud cover dulled the colour of the Forbidden Forest and the school grounds. The snow looked ashen, as though the burned remains of all the victims of those air crashes had fallen over Hogwarts. They seemed coincidental, Sweden, Australia, Yugoslavia but Snape knew better, they were all horribly connected. Snow falling in Florida and a deadly blizzard hitting the Great Lakes on the border of Canada and the USA closed off one of the worst months in Snape's life, or so he thought at the time.

At first Lily was conveniently occupied, not really hiding what she was working on from Severus but not openly discussing it either. Snape thought he saw her staring at Eloise's letters a bit too often, but if she had any sort of breakthrough in the code, she didn't say. Snape thought it was more likely she was just staring, hoping something would come to her. Perhaps she was worried about Eloise, a thought which caused a bitter laughter to erupt from Snape's lips.

It was a sound heard far too often these days as he hid away in the depths of the school dungeons, away from prying eyes. He was always working on multiple potions and so he had to manage them which meant skipping class more than even the biggest slackers. The absences went unnoticed by no one, but as Snape was one of many NEWTS students missing lessons, not much came other than warnings. Oh, and the looks in Lily's eyes from across the halls, those knowing yet hopefully questioning looks that Snape had grown to hate. This is what he was being turned into; the once alluring beauty oh Lily's eyes had become a dread, something to avoid.

As the days ticked away, blowing towards Valentine's Day, Snape could see couples hovering closer to one another, to shut away the winter cold. It sickened him, turned his stomach and he pretended that was why he could no longer eat. No, it wasn't the sight of Dirk Cresswell limping to his seat at the Ravenclaw table, it wasn't. Nor was it the looks of pity they gave Dirk, that turned into disgust as they glimpsed in the general direction of the Slytherin table. It wasn't even the memory of that moment in Potions class that Lily's hand drew towards Snape's hand on the worktable and he pulled away like an Inferius from the flame.

"_Late again, late again_."

He could already hear the words from Professor Slughorn. He wasn't far from the classroom but he had to let it brew and then turn the flame down to simmer and he couldn't leave or it would be ruined so Potions class had to wait. What a joke, late for Potions because of a potion, he was learning so much more on his own. He had a much better teacher than Slughorn could ever hope to be. But today there was yet one more thing to delay him.

"You better get a fucking grip kid! You think your name is going to protect you forever? You're just fodder, he'll throw you away when you become useless!"

"Right, so I should just sit back and hide behind Potter's skirts like you are?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."

Sirius and Regulus Black were arguing in a dungeon hallway. Regulus got in the last word as he shoved Sirius away from him and turned his head slightly towards Severus, he probably felt him rather than heard him coming. Sirius looked up and saw Snape which caused his face to immediately take on a sour expression which he tried to cover by laughing, that of course had the effect of making him look deranged. Sirius gave his brother one last look before walking away towards the Potions classroom. When Sirius was out of sight, Regulus resumed his usual stance these days, a slouched, scrunched posture with his shoulders hunched forward and to Snape he looked like a dog who was cowering from a master threatening him with a newspaper. Snape walked forward and allowed his shadow to cover Regulus who dared not look up.

"If you continue this way you will be disposed of. Fear is good but not if you fear everything and everyone, except your own brother it seems."

Regulus said nothing but briefly glanced in the direction his brother had gone and then nodded slightly in Snape's direction in understanding. Snape didn't nor could say any more to him. He wasn't anyone who should be giving advice all things considered but Regulus was going to get himself killed, or worse. Snape couldn't just let it happen; he needed everyone he could get on his side.

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"Where have you been sleeping?"

That was the first and last thing Lily had said to him that day, after Potions class. Where had he been sleeping? The truth was anywhere he managed, if he got any sleep at all, but he answered;

"Sometimes in my room, sometimes in our room."

Lily didn't say anything, just walked away. She knew he was lying but her expression was satisfied. Was she expecting him to lie and was happy to have her suspicions verified, or was she happy he still cared enough to lie? Snape didn't know and he really didn't have time to think about it. He had to figure out where he'd be sleeping tonight. It seemed he'd have to transfigure something to crawl onto in that empty storage room in the dungeons where he was brewing his potions. He had to watch a few through the night but for the moment they simmered, cooled, bubbled without any issues. In that moment of stillness Snape's stomach decided to remind him of how little he'd eaten. It was as good a time as any to grab something from the kitchens, there was always a house elf up, ready and willing to serve. Snape looked at them with pity these days, how he understood.

He was walking down the dungeon halls towards the kitchens when it happened. Were his senses slipping? He heard and saw nothing and no one in the halls. His lack of sleep and food had also robbed him of his diligence it seemed. How he thus managed to keep from being bested, Snape didn't know, perhaps all his new lessons were paying off. James and Sirius had devolved into muggle brawling when they saw that their spells weren't penetrating Snape's shield charm. Two against one didn't seem to bother them ever, they had no qualms, no morals, Snape hated them so it was easy to go too far. No it wasn't too far, not really, only if Lily found out. Snape never did get the chance to go as far as he had contemplated as he wrestled them on the dungeon floor. It wasn't until the fight stopped that time fast forwarded for Snape and he felt the fists against his ribs or chin, the place where Sirius slammed his head into the floor. The words too came suddenly and delayed, Sirius was screaming,

"What did you do to my brother?"

Potter was screaming,

"What did you do to Lily?"

Snape's mind had gotten as far as these words when they reached Mr. Filch's office. They were all too bloody and Snape too dizzy to have tried to run away even if he had realized what was going on. He was snapped back to reality by the sound of Filch's office door slamming shut.

"I'd chain the lot of yeh by your feet if yeh hadn't knocked each other senseless already. It'll be detention then, month's worth at least."

Filch shuffled around to his desk and took out a piece of parchment where he started writing their names and offenses, starting with _soiling dungeons floors and walls with blood_. Snape looked down at himself then at James and Sirius, they were particularly bloody for a fist fight, but there were long gashes on James and Sirius, perhaps from their spells rebounding back on them. Sirius turned his head and glared at Snape mouthing something that Snape didn't make out. James just stared ahead with his jaw clenched.

"Yeh know the drill then boys, turn out yeh pockets and review your list of charges before I send them off to your heads of house."

There was a spasm in Potter's clenched jaw, with great effort he and Sirius turned out their pockets, Snape had nothing to turn out, he wasn't that stupid. It amazed Snape that these two were the same age as he was. They seemed to carry bunches of junk with them; candy wrappers, broken quills, pieces of parchment, a couple of chocolate frog cards and a few empty potions vials. Filch confiscated everything but threw out anything broken, luckily they weren't carrying any stink bombs or Filch might actually have made good on his threat. Professor McGonagall came rather quickly and led the two Gryffindors out, likely to see Madam Pomfrey for their wounds. Slughorn wasn't going to come, nothing disturbed him from his sleep, or late night snack. Snape decided to sit down since he was likely going to be waiting a while. Filch was examining the piece of parchment he took from James when Snape felt a sudden lurch in his stomach as though he might throw up. Filch looked at him, knowing the signs.

"Ah crap it all. Hold it! Hold it I say! Yeh ain't puking in my office yeh hear!"

Filch ran out of the office to grab a bucket or something but it was too late, Snape leaned over the arm rest of the chair he was sitting in and puked. Snape was amazed he had anything in his stomach to throw up. Fact was, he didn't and that was the issue. As Snape caught his breathe he saw the problem, he hadn't thrown up food but his own blood. The stress and lack of food and sleep had likely given him a bleeding ulcer or something. Snape felt even dizzier but he vanished the blood and leaned back into his chair trying to keep the room from spinning.

"Damn kids always up to no good, no good!"

Snape could hear Filch coming back down the hall but something had caught his eye, the piece of parchment had fluttered slightly. Snape knew what that meant. He picked up the parchment and examined it, there it was, that feeling he had been tuning his senses to since the beginning of their NEWTs transfiguration lessons. It was the feeling of magic, or something being more than it appeared. If Potter was trying to hide something, Snape wanted to know about it. He stashed the parchment under his cloak and leaned back in his chair, pretending to dry heave as Filch burst through the door with a wooden bucket.

"Here puke in this if yer going to then."

"Ugh… Mr. Filch… I... already... but it's blood. I think I'm dying sir."

"Dying? Ha! I ain't that lucky."

Still Filch couldn't ignore how pale and green his face looked and his front was covered in some of the blood he'd thrown up. Mrs Norris also mewed in agreement that something was wrong so after a stream of swear words Filch reluctantly dragged Snape to the hospital wing himself, knowing full well Slughorn wouldn't wake until the smell of breakfast drifted into his chamber.

"Here Poppy, got another one to fix up, spewing blood all over the place."

"Yes thank you Argus."

Pomfrey gave Filch a disapproving look which he ignored as he raced out of the room. The nurse helped Snape into a bed and told him to stay down while she went to get a potion. Snape happily complied and closed his eyes trying to get his heart to stop racing. It was eerily silent but then, as though waiting to make sure it was safe, Snape heard whispers. He knew those voices, it was Potter and Black, likely they didn't know it was him who had just arrived. Snape quickly cast a spell to amplify their voices.

"Don't worry James, even if he has it for a hundred years he'll never figure out how to work it, that was part of the point when we made it. I'd be worried if Snape got it though, he's always up to no good."

"Well I'm more worried about getting it back actually."

"Why, we know this place inside out now and with your cloak we don't have to worry about bumping into anyone."

"Yeah but still, I'd like to know what Snape is up to in dungeons."

"He's making potions, we saw them."

"Yeah, but why? For who?"

"Don't worry James, we'll stop him if he is but he didn't have anything on his arm, neither does my brother."

"No, probably not until they leave school but they are being trained I know it."

"I don't doubt it mate."

Sirius broke off as Madam Pomfrey came back. She looked in on James and Sirius and seemed satisfied at their state and went on to Severus whom she gave a lilac-coloured potion to.

"It'll calm your stomach dear. Now did you eat anything you normally don't eat for dinner? Perhaps something spicy or sour?"

Snape didn't have to bother trying to hide his voice, it was already scratchy from his stomach acid.

"Yeah, me and me mates had an eating contest, spicy stuff."

Madam Pomfrey tisked.

"Well it's no wonder your stomach is upset then. I'd expect something like this from the younger ones, but you should know better. Here, take these before you eat for the next week and they'll repair the damage and no more spicy food, not for a few months alright?"

Snape nodded and Pomfrey went back into the office, yawning slightly as she went.

iiiiiiiiiii

Severus never really got to take too many of those potions because he was eating and sleeping even less frequently than before. He became obsessed with that piece of parchment that Filch confiscated from Potter. He could see reflected in himself Lily's behaviour from last month. When he wasn't looking at it he was thinking about it. He knew it had a secret, a way to unlock it but he just couldn't get it right. Everything he tried led to insults and taunts appearing on the parchment, frustrating him further. He knew about enchanted parchments, Zonko's had them to tell jokes but he knew they all had an override and if Snape could figure it out he'd know what Potter was trying to hide.

He remembered what Sirius and James were discussing while he, unknown to them, listened in. They said he was always up to no good and Filch said something similar when he first noticed something strange about the parchment. But saying '_I am always up to no good'_ didn't work. He tried several variations over the next couple of days with no success. He hardly even noticed Lily anymore, no, otherwise he would have seen the elation on Lily's face the Thursday before Valentine's Day. That Saturday was a Hogsmeade day and Valentine's Day was the following Monday.

It was Friday and as many 6th years had the day off or at most a half day, dinner was filled with excitement and anticipation for the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. Lily blended right in the atmosphere as she lit up with a smile for the first time in nearly a month. Snape sat at the Slytherin table pretending to eat while he muttered possible passwords he hadn't tried yet. Some of the other Slytherins looked at him with grimaces and a select few did their best to ignore him with Mulciber seeming to enjoy seeing Snape in such a state.

As soon as other people began to get up from their tables so did Snape, rushing to the Room of Requirement where he was keeping the parchment to try out the new phrases. He didn't notice Lily trying to get his attention. He ran up the staircases and over to the room where he sat and started his daily ritual.

"I promise I am up to no good

We are up to no good

We promise we are up to no good

We will be doing no good

We swear to do no good

I swear I am up to no good.

I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

And just like that lines of ink began to crisscross the parchment. When they stopped moving Snape could see words on the parchment, much like he could before when it was taunting his failed attempts.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present: The Marauder's Map."

Snape read off the parchment. He opened it up and could not believe his eyes. It was Hogwarts; every hall, class, room and secret passage was marked. Not only that, he could see thousands of little dots moving all over the map. It was the students all rushing back to their common rooms after dinner. It was absolutely incredible; you could see where everyone was at all times. Snape searched for himself on the map but found that the room wasn't on the map. It likely meant that either they didn't know about it or it was untraceable. Snape's eye wandered over the map hungrily, the things he could use this for, the things Potter probably used it for. A lot of things were making sense suddenly. He could even see his room down in the dungeons where he was storing his potions, that's how they knew about it. His potions! Suddenly Snape remembered he should have gone straight down after dinner to bottle one of them. He left the map in the room for safe keeping and quickly left. As he did a tiny dot labeled Lily Evans was seen walking up the stairs towards the 7th floor.

iiiiiiiiiii

Snape was beyond exhausted but luckily he only had 2 potions working so he could go upstairs and get a good night's rest in the Room of Requirement. It was past midnight when he sneaked up to the 7th floor. He shut the door to the room and walked across the office to the bedroom. He pushed the door open and stopped in his tracks, Lily was standing in the bedroom looking at the map. She looked up when she heard him come in and put the map down on the night table.

"I knew you were coming, I was watching you, on the map."

Snape didn't know what to say but Lily filled the silence.

"Why am I not surprised you have one of these? Did he give it to you?"

"Who?"

Lily laughed, it was the bitter laugh he hated, that had been falling from his own mouth with disturbing frequency recently.

"No one, he doesn't exist right? It doesn't matter anyways, it never really mattered."

"I don't know what you're talking about Lily."

"Nor do I really, I'm just, talking."

Lily walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. Snape stiffened and tried to push her away but she clung on.

"Stop it Lily."

"Please, just let me stay like this, just a little bit."

Half of Severus wanted to comply but the other half of him was so frightened that if he didn't get her off him right now, he'd never be able to let her go.

"I said stop it!"

Snape grabbed Lily's hips and pushed her off of him. She staggered backwards and Snape could see freshly shed tears spilling down her cheeks.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I came here and I thought it would, we would, that you'd be happy when you found out. I didn't want to believe it, I just pretended not to see what was happening but, I didn't think you were already so far in. What is this?"

Lily grabbed the map and crumpled it.

"No! What are you doing?! Give me that!"

Lily was sobbing,

"Oh it's that important is it? Did your master give it to you?"

Lily tried to rip it apart but even though Snape knew such a magical object wouldn't be so easily damaged or destroyed, his panic set in, not after working so hard to figure it out would he let it be taken from him. He went to grab the map out of Lily's hands and in the struggle Lily's head hit the four poster bed post. She let go of the map and slid down, leaving a long bloody line on the post. As more tears poured out of her eyes her shaking hand reached to the back of her head where she pressed it down then brought it up to her eyes where she saw blood trickling off her hand.

"Oh god Lily, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, it… it was an accident. Are you alright?"

Lily said nothing but sat on the ground in shock. Slowly she pressed her hand on the back of her head again and stood up. Snape hovered above her making sure she was alright and wouldn't fall over. Lily began walking towards the door.

"Wait Lily, let me take a look at that. Has, has the bleeding stopped I could…"

"No. No, I wouldn't want you to get my dirty blood all over your hands."

Snape felt as though a wall had hit him, like he did when he fell down the stairs and his breath was knocked out of him. Hearing Lily say those words was surreal but it hurt, still Severus was glad they hurt, he deserved it.

"That's right, you… you're right I wouldn't."

Lily laughed faintly and turned slightly, just enough to see Severus with her hand still pressed against her head wound.

"I knew it. I always knew."

Then she turned back and walked out the door. When she was gone Snape also fell to the floor. It had been a long time since Severus cried as hard as he did that night, it was as though the sky had emptied through his eyes. Then sleep came, or unconsciousness, he couldn't be sure which.

iiiiiiiiiii

Saturday passed in a most horrid blur for Snape. He was too afraid he'd see Lily with James going down to Hogsmeade and go absolutely insane. It was like last June replaying over again but he hadn't even the strength in his chapped lips nor will to attempt to apologize. It was for the best he kept saying to himself over and over that weekend, for the best, for her to be safe, for my Lily.

It wasn't much but it helped him get through the hours and though he didn't sleep sometimes he kept his eyes open so long they fogged over with blackness and it was similar enough. That Sunday night he crawled back to the Room of Requirement after starting a new potion and dragged his feet across the office to the bedroom, hoping maybe sleep would finally come and he could forget for a while.

He opened the door as his tired mind panicked, it couldn't handle such a strange and painful déjà vu, even if it was only a hallucination. Lily was there, or so it seemed. She was on the bed and Severus could smell her scent, it wafted throughout the room. She turned slightly as the door opened and a sliver of light from the office fell over her naked shoulders.

As Severus stood staring at her, a barely audible whisper slide off her trembling lips,

"I don't want to lose you."


	41. I Think I Know You From Somewhere

Chapter 41: I Think I Know You From Somewhere

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the story which directly takes ideas from JK Rowling. This story is not being used for commercial purposes; it is simply for pleasure and fun.

Author's Note: This is a special anniversary chapter that you do not need to take as part of the storyline but might help you understand how I see the characters and my alternate Maurauders' Era universe. My last anniversary chapter focused on three one-shot type stories of couples that were meant to reflect on how I view their relationships and personalities. This one follows a similar structure but these stories are centered around seemingly strange, serendipitous or chance encounters between different characters.

The past 3 years of writing this story have been wonderful for me and have gotten me through some challenging and happy times. As long as it's been, I'd say the story is only about half finished. I can't imagine not writing it anymore but perhaps it'll still be a long time until that is a concern =P. Enjoy!

iiiiiiiiiii

The sun was just rising in the sky. It glared down on a forest, willing its rays to penetrate the canopy but to no avail.

Far below, lying on the dirt of the forest floor was a little boy. He was lying naked at the base of a tree, curled up in a ball and shivering with cold causing dew drops to roll off his skin.

The boy awoke very suddenly, wide-eyed and alert. Something had startled him but he could neither hear nor see what it might have been. Cautiously he stood and gathered his bearings. How had he ended up in the Forbidden Forest and just how far deep had he gone, he didn't know. He looked up to the sky for some direction, looking over to the weak light of the rising sun that he knew must be east. He started walking towards what he hoped was the Shrieking Shack where his clothes and wand would be waiting for him.

He started walking but stopped almost immediately sensing something strange. He forced himself to shrug to off, otherwise he might be late for breakfast, but just as soon as he started walking again he stopped. He turned and looked around him. There was nothing out there yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched and not by friendly eyes. The forest was full of strange things so he wouldn't have been surprised if a tree sprang to life and tried to eat him. What was particularly concerning was the fact that he did not remember ever being in this section of the forest before.

He looked around a few more times then turned to keep walking but as he turned he came face to face with a horse. No, not a horse, a centaur. The boy fell over in fright as the centaur stared down at him from beyond the point of an arrow. The centaur seemed young but tall and strong, he had bright blue eyes and blond hair that bordered on white.

"I come with a warning."

"What?"

The boy got up off the ground and clapped his hands together to shake the soil off.

"I have come to warn you that should you trespass onto centaur territory again, in this form or your other, you will be killed by me or a member of my herd."

"What do you mean?"

"I am sure you are aware of your affliction. I do not know why you are permitted at this school but you are not permitted here."

"You don't own the forest."

Replied the boy with all the expected arrogance of youth.

"No, not me personally, but my herd do. I am not here to negotiate but to warn."

"Whatever, I can't help where I go."

"It will not do to lie to me. You are supposed to be contained during the full moon but you knowingly wander off across the grounds and forest. We do not take kindly to murderers in our midst."

"I've never killed anyone!"

"Only by the grace of chance but your recklessness suggests you don't mind becoming one or at the very least subjecting another human to your transformation."

"I'm not alone."

"Humans are so very good at convincing themselves with excuses. Just remember what I said."

The centaur turned and started walking away. Behind him the little boy had lost all his proud confidence and seemed to shrink.

"It's the first time I've had friends."

It sounded like the whimper of a wounded animals but it came from the trembling lips of the boy.

The centaur turned around and looked into the boy's eyes. After a few minutes he walked back, putting away his bow and arrow as he went.

"The moon is tricky. She is near and yet her nearness is deceptive, too close, always somewhat out of focus. It is easy to think that the Earth is in control because she spins around us but I believe it is much more of a symbiotic relationship."

"I... I don't understand."

"I have spent many years looking at the moon which you so fear and shy away from. This affliction called disease, we were once the called the same; uncontrolled, half-breeds. A spell or breeding project gone awry."

"I doubt it's the same, you don't change from human to horse without control and try to kill everything around you."

"Not everything, just that which denies what you really are."

The boy stared up at the centaur, confused.

"You and your company have discovered that you react differently to humans than other animals, correct."

The boy nodded in agreement.

"How do you think you might react around me?"

A crease formed on the boy's forehead as he contemplated the question.

"Well, I'm not sure. Are you more human or animal? I suppose since your mind is like a human's or maybe it would be somewhere in between?"

"You are close, but not quite. Among some of us you would behave as you do around humans, among others as you do around animals."

"Why is there a difference if you are all centaurs?"

"We do not all think alike, we do not all fear, we do not all see the same way."

"Well I suppose there is less to fear if you can't be infected."

"Yes, the stigma is paralyzing for your kind."

"My kind?"

"You are still human."

"That isn't how I'm classified."

"Human classification systems are arbitrary, they only have the meaning someone creates for them. We are classified as beasts, which we are not but nor are we beings. It is not so difficult physically to create another category but psychologically and socially, it would mean a revolution. The moon and Earth will see many revolutions before humans, even wizards, are capable of such. Among my kind too, there are still many who have not experienced such a revolution, hence the different reactions."

"I don't think I understand."

"I suppose there is no reason why you should. There is nothing to suggest the misunderstood understand better themselves."

"Understand myself?"

"If you are having trouble with something of the sort, well, I got through that period in my youth by writing about my experiences and emotions. Perhaps you should try it. Journal writing seems to be popular. Or perhaps a book addressed to others who are going through similar experiences?"

"And announce to the world that I'm a werewolf? I don't think so."

"Writing can be so conveniently anonymous."

"Yeah and what would I called it, Hairy Snout, Human Heart?"

Asked the boy with a laugh.

"I'd read that."

Replied the centaur with a smile as he trotted off into the forest and was gone before the boy could ask if he was serious or not.

iiiiiiiiiii

The door of the Hog's Head pub creaked as it opened to allow in a fresh wave of customers. Groups and pairs wandered about the room looking for a place to sit and shuffling between them for cover was a tall, bulky, broad shouldered young man. He moved behind one group then another until he made his way to the very darkest corner of the pub. Considering how generally dark the place was, one could be fairly certain of privacy sitting at that forgotten table. Somewhat clumsily, the man sat in his chair and waved his wand discreetly, ordering something from the bartender who took the coins that floated over to the bar top and started pouring out a smoking liquid into a glass.

The pub was nearly full but at the same time still seemed rather empty that cold winter evening. Everyone was so sheltered in shadow that an unsuspecting person would walk in and think it was deserted. That was one of the best and worst things about the pub, well, no the lack of any sanitation was the worst.

As though to emphasize this, the man ran his finger over the table as his drink floated over to his table and made a disgusted noise at the layer of dust that came off onto his finger. A squeak was heard behind him as a chair shifted and then he heard an equally squeaky woman's voice,

"Ain't much to look at but this is the place to be if you want something stronger than mead and butterbeer. Firewiskey at the Three Broomstick just tastes watered down and I can't be going all the way to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink."

"Arg, always too many darn tourists there anyways."

Replied the man in agreement. His voice was deep and rough. The woman laughed and the man could feel her leaning back in her chair which was pressed up the back of his. She seemed to take a drink and then continued,

"Well, tourists are better than students. Nothing worse than Hogsmeade during a Hogwarts weekend, place is overrun and infested with immature, loud, undisciplined, sugar-fueled maniacs."

"You sound like someone I know."

Replied the man who was smiling despite himself, he never did understand why they took to eating everything in Honeydukes, why not just mail order some candy?

"Did you go to Hogwarts?"

Asked the woman.

"Course, course, I mean who hasn't?"

"I know a few who were homeschooled, in my time."

"It must have been some time ago, don't know many who were myself, unless they got sick something bad."

"Ah well, I suppose the times changed, the houses aren't what they used to be."

Said the woman, slurring a words a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"Ah well, Ravenclaw had the best of the best, smartest, but nowadays they let anyone who knows how to read in it seems."

"Well the smartest in magic need not be smart in other subjects, it's all about those NEWTS. But I'll agree that things are different, I mean Gryffindor used to have some mates who would do anything, never back down from a challenge. Nowadays everything's too politically correct over there, think they're becoming bloody Hufflepuffs."

"Oh Gryffindor still has a backbone, just toned down all the arrogance, it's been much improved you ask me. As for the Hufflepuffs, well, bless their souls."

"Here, here, I'll drink to that."

Both the man and woman, still back to back, raised their glasses and drank. The man smacked his lips and said,

"Still, still I mean Hufflepuffs are one problem but the Slytherins. Giving me the heebie jeebies these days you know."

"Yeah, I see them around from time to time, like they all got some big secret among each other, cursing the other students, looking like dead plants. Spending too much time in that dungeon talking to snakes I say."

"They can't really talk to snakes though can they?"

"Duno, suppose some of them could."

"That just ain't right you ask me."

Said the man with a shiver.

"Ain't speaking to snakes that's the problem, it's if you listen to what they say back I think."

"Here, here."

Said the man once again and drank the rest of his glass before getting up, a bit too suddenly it seems, as his head hit a hanging light as he walked, he gave a nervous high pitched laugh. It didn't seem to be a problem the rest of the way out of the pub as he almost seemed to be getting smaller. The woman silently followed him out of the pub as well and as soon as she had gotten a fair way up the street, pulled her hair into a tight bun and put on her glasses.

iiiiiiiiiii

Millicent got onto the elevator on the first floor, whistling a tune. She patiently waited for the door to close and mouthed along with the elevator announcement before laughing. She really hated that voice, a nice female voice would work so much better.

On the next floor a younger man wearing a bowler hat stepped on.

"You know I think this should be changed to a woman's voice, don't you think?"

"Yeah, well just as soon as you become Minister for Magic you can have it changed."

"I think I will."

"Will what?"

"Become Minister for Magic and change this voice."

"You're going to become Minister for Magic just to change the elevator voice?"

"Why not?"

The man looked at the woman like she was insane then said,

"Well if you do become Minister for Magic and change it then I'm going to become Minister for Magic and change it back."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why not?"

Asked the man in a mocking tone.

"Bad things will happen, mark my words."

"Yeah, I'll do that."

The man shook his head and left the elevator as the door opened to his floor. The woman inside cocked her head to the side and tisked.

The elevator doors shut and the woman began to whistle again. It was a few floors until the elevator stopped again. A tall boy with long blond hair walked in this time with an official, the jingling of coins could be heard. The ride was totally silent and while somewhat awkward for the boy and man, Millicent was smiling widely. This seemed to make the official nervous, he couldn't get out of there fast enough when his stop came. Alone with the blond boy the woman leaned over as whispered,

"Your money won't get you out of everything you know."

The boy turned and looked at the woman with contempt, taking in her shaggy looking clothes. Then he turned back around and said,

"How about you mind your own business."

"Oh but I am. You should have just practiced more for your apparation test and you would have passed, nothing hard about it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right, of course not. You just remember what I said."

"Yes, I've heard it before, money can't buy you everything; which one are you going to argue about? Love, happiness, sanity?"

"Oh, those are all good but no. Just know that there are some people for whom certain things are more important than money."

"And?"

"And if they are more powerful than you and demand something from you for which they won't take money in exchange, well, all the money in the world will become useless."

"Money is power."

"Ah well, haven't you heard? Magic is might!"

The woman thrust a fist in the air as she said this which caused the boy to step as far away from the woman as he could while still remaining in the elevator. Millicent smiled and brought her hands down and started to whistle again. The boy walked out of the elevator without so much as a backward look at the woman who cocked her head to the side and tisked.

The elevator made its way to the main level and in stepped a haggard looking red-headed woman holding a fussy new born baby in one arm and a stack of documents in the other. The women smiled at each other as the elevator door closed. As soon as the elevator started moving the baby began to cry.

"Oh no, no don't cry it's okay. The elevator is good, shouldn't you like this?"

The woman looked on the verge of tears.

"Each baby is different."

"Oh yes, I suppose."

"First born?"

Asked Millicent.

"Oh yes, obvious is it?"

"Well a little but you'll get the hang of it, almost all mothers do."

"I used to think that but I'm not so sure anymore. Honestly, I don't think I'll be having any more."

"Any more?"

"Children, any more children."

"Oh how can you say that? It always gets better. All these families with one or two kids are going about it all wrong, it's easier when you have say 4 or 5, that way you can just buy everything in bulk, you have hand-me-downs, it's a breeze."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, and looking at you I can tell… you, well, I bet you could handle 7 children with a set of twins in there even!"

"Oh, I don't know about that, 7, goodness me, just thinking about it makes me dizzy."

"You just get the hang of it and then, well, it's just a second nature you know?"

As though to prove her point Millicent bent down close to the murmuring baby and started whistling softly. The baby opened his eyes and looked up at the women as though enchanted. As the song continued the baby seemed to be falling asleep with a smile on his face. A few floors later, the baby was soundly sleeping. The baby's mother looked amazed.

"How did you do that? I can never get him to sleep."

"Each baby is different, they are already developing their personalities in a way, although it's a lot of nature right now, it's your job to do the nurture right and you will, trust me."

Millicent smiled and the woman did as well and looked down at her sleeping baby.

"You know, maybe I can do it."

They had reached her floor and she got off, looking down at her baby the whole time.

When the door closed Millicent started whistling again but this time pushed a button and the elevator started to descend. After a few minutes the annoying male voice announced,

"Department of Mysteries."

Millicent walked out of the elevator, all the while whistling and spinning a gold pocketwatch engraved with the words _they'll never know_ around her finger. As the elevator doors closed the echoing whistles suddenly stopped and there was nothing but silence.


End file.
